Snake in the Road
Brooks Bradbury

it started with a garter snake
flattened in the street
the harmless little garden kind
whilst squished, was rather neat

“they’re the good ones” people quip
“they couldn’t ever hurt”
like the big fat slithery black ones
down there in the dirt

let them go their merry way
it’s the herpetological code
but to me it’s open season
on the highway
when they’re stretched across the road

down in Appalachia
where the poison ones came at ya
copper heads make you think twice
timber rattlers ain’t half as nice

but out in Arizona
the snakes have all turned pro
so you better watch out, out there
if that’s where yer plannin’ to go

see there’s twenty kinds of diamondbacks
they stare out of those rocky cracks
and that damned fast Mojave kind
say your prayers when one attacks

sonoran racers and whip snakes
are colorful and mellow
them coral snake bites is all it takes
‘cause “red and yellow kills a fellow”

it’s a queasy kind of feeling though
when your pickup runs one over
a six-foot diamondback with tire tracks
shameless fun in the big Land Rover

there ain’t no moral to the tale
when it comes to deadly snakes
avoid ’em on the trail fer sure
on the road avoid the brakes

© Copyright 2014 Brooks Bradbury / BROOKS LOOKS