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| Constellation Map - Draco and Environs |
"In Serpent Latitudes"
was first published in
The Chariton Review
at Truman State University
in the Fall 2000 issue.
In Serpent Latitudes
James Hart
for Ethan Hart
We see such matters as chance and time,
when meanings rise or some words rhyme,
are no more ominous than what they are,
no matter what patterns lie in the stars.
Last night my son saw Anaconda on TV
and told me they’d cut the thrilling finale,
the part where the snake eats a man whole
and regurgitates the villain to end his role.
I can’t help remembering our Sunday school
when I was young, the minister and the rules,
how he read the story of Jonah and the whale,
giving no thought to us children turning pale.
It’s strange how we see both time and stories,
sometimes changing ends that seem too gory,
and in the ruse of saving daylight after work,
see morning stars once more in the dying dark.
So it’s mostly accident I looked up at dawn
today and saw Draco at zenith in the Amazon
of stars and darkness north, that old wake
passing over our house, the belly and the ache.
Infinity’s serpent swallows its own lonely tail,
and like Jonah riding in the belly of the whale,
I ride this middle earth, Tiamat’s vomited stone
floating where mother chaos was overthrown.
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