I’ve eaten whole fish

Mouth agape

Eyes sunken from the oven 

Told as I shred the meat away 

to pluck each hair-thin rib 

Carefully 

I’ve eaten crab

Cracked shells with brute strength 

Dug flesh out with my fingernails 

Ravaged a steamed body 

Senselessly 

I’ve ripped apart chicken wings

Twisted the joint until knuckles popped apart 

Sawed open a femur to boil out the marrow 

Violently 

Ravenously 

Devoured. 

When I’ve told people that I care for two snakes

They always mention 

‘I could never feed a snake mice. 

They’re already dead, right?’ 

And

‘Do you keep it in the fridge? 

By your FOOD?”

Yes

And yes

Unlike the crabs. 

Unlike the chickens. 

Unlike the cow and pig and shrimp and turkey and duck and- 

Unlike those whose bodies I have savaged to consume. 

A snake is far more polite. 

She strikes

She strangles an already lifeless body, 

and waits for the quiet of death 

She arranges the body in her coils

And simply 

Swallows. 

No blood

No bones

No sunken eyes

Knife glistening with fat 

Or ribs piled to the side

I keep them in my freezer

Because they are meat. 

Sleeping

Whole

Soft 

Unbroken 

The mice are named food 

And then they are gone.