Author Information
Snakes
She spent a lot of time in offices
She always told me she was working
I never understood why work made her drunk
When she came home she would cry
Tears hit the floor like bullets
All I could do was stand
My feet cemented in her tears
I would wear my swimsuit some nights
Just in case her tears got really bad
I figured I could swim over and help her
Bring a towel and wipe her face
But the towel would get heavy with her fears
It started to weigh me down
Until I was drowning in tears with her
My mouth would fill with salty water
I tried my best to keep my head above the tears
And I tried my best to keep quiet
I wanted to hide away all the pain she gave me
So I went under the water
I felt the tears wrap tight around me like a snake
I should have known at that moment
But I was young and I was naïve
One day I asked why she would cry
Why she would spend so much time in the bathroom
Why she took so many pills
Why she drank so much liquor
Why she let me drown in her tears
She smiled
It was the first time she had ever smiled at me
Microscopic it was
But I had been waiting 18 years for that smile
She told me she had snakes in her skull
She told me that sometimes they gave her headaches and made her sad
She told me not to worry
I didn’t worry
But I would have worried
I would have worried if I had known the snakes would kill her
And I would have worried
If I had known the snakes would kill me too
