Glenn Ingersoll works for the Berkeley Public Library where he hosts Clearly Meant, a reading & interview series. He has two chapbooks, City Walks (broken boulder) and Fact (Avantacular). He keeps two blogs, LoveSettlement and Dare I Read. Recent work has appeared in Poetry East, Askew, and Hearty Greetings.

The Rarity of Snakes

Once upon a time I was like you are,
tall and religious, with a cup of coffee
and silver sideburns. The world looked
branded but was healing nicely,
although screaming, occasionally,
disturbed one’s sleep, and a man
would have to rise from his ruins
and walk in the verdant forest
where the rarity of brilliant snakes was belied
by the dazzle each in its slick of black
and gold and red enacted across the way of contemplation.
No one was alone but often one felt alone.
This is not at all true these days, what with
the communities implanted in the bones of one’s arms
and rising from garbage cans
in noise entirely emptied out.