Poem 201

More snakes and water – I included this in my homemade collection Smalls …

( I like the way this succinctly and elegantly builds a picture of the (roadworks) scene so you see the things I don’t mention as well as the things I do – maybe that’s as good a definition of poetry as any … and isn’t rind a perfect word … )

Green Hose

The green hose is not the snake
throwing coils across the wet road
only the rind
stiff and sluggish


         the workman turns the tap


now the serpent shows itself
quick and slippery
through the dust into the drain