Poetry Guest Post ~ Pets
Written by Sabra Bowers
A few years ago on a Saturday, Lisa (a friend of mine) was helping me clean and walked out to my garage to go to the laundry room. She yelled to me that I had a snake in my garage. I ran to see and sure enough there was a long, long black snake right outside my kitchen door. Well, I'm afraid of all snakes and right away was yelling, "Let's find something to kill it with." She said, "No, it is a harmless black snake." As we debated about how to handle the situation, the black snake slid into my laundry room and slid behind my furnace.
That night, I left the garage door and laundry room open. I wanted the snake to have a way to vacate the house. I prayed I wasn't doing the opposite and welcoming all the snakes in the neighborhood into my garage!
The next day, I wrote this poem.
Pets
released a bonsai
to fulfill its destiny
not comfortable with
fish in a tank
can't abide a bird
in a cage
not home enough for a dog
slightly allergic to cats
satisfied with bunnies,
squirrels and chipmunks in my yard,
and with the lizard on my front porch
satisfied with the baby bird in a nest
in my hanging petunia,
and with the hawks flying overhead
and resting in my woods
not satisfied with the black snake
in the laundry room
behind my furnace.
Sabra Bowers lives in Atlanta, Ga. She enjoys writing poetry and reading her poetry at different venues around
town. You can find one of her poems on Amazon in the anthology Inner Lives Women Writers Explore Their Identity,
Expression, and Transformation. She also enjoys writing flash fiction. One of her flash stories is online in Tiferet Journal.
Sabra has an adult daughter and works full-time as a corporate accountant.
You can find Sabra here: Later, Miss Slater, on Facebook, and Twitter
~ Comment below or connect with me on Twitter and Facebook. I love to hear your thoughts!
A few years ago on a Saturday, Lisa (a friend of mine) was helping me clean and walked out to my garage to go to the laundry room. She yelled to me that I had a snake in my garage. I ran to see and sure enough there was a long, long black snake right outside my kitchen door. Well, I'm afraid of all snakes and right away was yelling, "Let's find something to kill it with." She said, "No, it is a harmless black snake." As we debated about how to handle the situation, the black snake slid into my laundry room and slid behind my furnace.
That night, I left the garage door and laundry room open. I wanted the snake to have a way to vacate the house. I prayed I wasn't doing the opposite and welcoming all the snakes in the neighborhood into my garage!
The next day, I wrote this poem.
Pets
released a bonsai
to fulfill its destiny
not comfortable with
fish in a tank
can't abide a bird
in a cage
not home enough for a dog
slightly allergic to cats
satisfied with bunnies,
squirrels and chipmunks in my yard,
and with the lizard on my front porch
satisfied with the baby bird in a nest
in my hanging petunia,
and with the hawks flying overhead
and resting in my woods
not satisfied with the black snake
in the laundry room
behind my furnace.
town. You can find one of her poems on Amazon in the anthology Inner Lives Women Writers Explore Their Identity,
Expression, and Transformation. She also enjoys writing flash fiction. One of her flash stories is online in Tiferet Journal.
Sabra has an adult daughter and works full-time as a corporate accountant.
You can find Sabra here: Later, Miss Slater, on Facebook, and Twitter
~ Comment below or connect with me on Twitter and Facebook. I love to hear your thoughts!
Eek! Get a very long stick for the laundry room Sabra! Lovely poem; I can’t stand birds in bird cages either.
ReplyDeleteFor months my legs got chills each time I entered the laundry room. I looked all around but still felt like something was behind me. Some time later, I wrote a story for reading aloud about hearing sounds in my walls and wondering if it was the black snake. I'll have to post it sometime. Thanks for reading my poem and commenting, Veronica.
ReplyDeleteAhh, yes, the snake in the laundry room. NO, not invited. Same with bats in the belfry (well, one got in our house and up to the top of the ceiling). Like you, I left a door AND window open, and it flew away home. Hope your snake did the same.
ReplyDeleteAhh, I hope so too. Was the longest snake I had ever seen. I like the ring of bats in the belfry. Thanks for reading and commenting. :)
DeleteWell something good came out of that snake's visit! It provided inspiration for your poem!
ReplyDeleteKim, very true. I like how writing a poem forever keeps a moment or day in my memory. It is like having a photograph of the happening. Thanks for your comment and thinking the poem is a good thing. :)
DeleteThanks everyone for stopping by to read!
ReplyDeleteha yeah, snakes in the garage are only good if they are eating the mice...but then again so would be a cat...and they tend to scare the visitors less...smiles.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and sharing your thoughts, Brian. Yes, I'd rather have mice, but thankfully don't. Sabra Bowers
DeleteThanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by to read!
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