Patrick James
Ma Mere, the Alligator
My, ‘ma mere’ has always
been an alligator -
she remembers the great
age of her species, their
swimming with soft cadenced
strokes and her ancestors
in the Amazon (def: n. female
warrior of legend, tall, strong
woman)
She would make a sound
like hissing or a fearsome
roar during mating season
or in warding off unwelcome
intruders - after her mating
she had constructed a nest,
inearthing her child eglings
in the warm damp sands
and the comfort of mud
until we had hatched in
the heat of the sun.
Our father was killed by
a hunter’s rifle for his
leather but my mother still
stood guard in the heat -
then without hurting us, she
carried her infants in her
mouth to the water’s edge.
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