Rattlesnake Reverence
A barren land, sky and cactus, driving south from Illinois to visit grandparents, the terrain changing we enter slow motion, each town 30 miles apart, the distance the pony express could ride in a day.
No longer in a Rambler station wagon, we’re sitting in a covered wagon, squinting, savoring, searching, for the small, four room house, added onto several times— an indoor bathroom, then a large bedroom, filled with bunk beds we would lie on next to open windows and listen to summer sounds during the day, cicadas and cows mooing. During night, the howl of coyotes far off in the distance.
Further west Daddy drives past gas stations and their dirty bathrooms out back, pulls over on the side of the road. We step out watching for rattlesnakes before squatting down.
We had heard the story many times. Our mother, three years old, her daddy yelling, Grace Laverne, you stop right now! Grabs a gun and shoots a rattlesnake. The rattles remain on top the buffet to be revered every summer when we visited
11 thoughts on "Rattlesnake Reverence"
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This a great poem, Laverne. A real home run. It’s even got time travel! The introduction of rattlesnakes adds intrigue and humor in the end. So good!
Laverne – Although I hate snakes, I loved the poem! “We enter slow motion” is awesome as is the time travel. When we moved to the country we were told about the “watch before you squat” thing although we had more copperheads. Wonderful movement in the poem!
I love the measurement of “the distance the pony express could ride in a day” leading in to that time shift
I really liked that line too.
Me, too.
Funny and nostalgic. This new version is really good.
Yeah !!!! This is really good, all the details that you give us really put us right in the action. Love it that you wrote it in present tense.
It pops!!!!! And the way the last stanza details explain and name the danger and your mom! I love the last line !!!
And the fact that the rattlesnakes are less dangerous than whatever is going in those god-awful bathrooms 😆 yeah I echo. Home run!!!
Summer sounds in the day and the night are so evocative of that experience of sleeping away from home as a child. I like the present tense too.
Keeping those rattles on the buffet feels like such a perfect detail. Thanks for sharing this one!
Great poem, Laverne. Since June 1, I’ve been searching “Laverne Zabielski”, your tag from prior years, but saw nothing for 2026. Glad I finally caught on. All your poems this week are remarkable.
Title drew me right in and the shift from Rambler to station wagon.
And this…”her daddy yelling, Grace Laverne, you stop right now!”