Joshua Michael Stewart
Shedding Skin
On my morning walk, I spot a milk snake threading itself through the crack in a bridge abutment. Myth surrounds their name: Farmers would enter their barns and find snakes dangling off cow udders, fattening themselves on milk. It’s not true. The snakes are interested in the barn mice, not dairy. Because of their color and markings, milk snakes are mistaken for copperheads but aren’t venomous. They don’t even have fangs. Their teeth are so small they can barely break the skin on a human hand. Backed into a corner, milk snakes will shake their tails like rattlers but have no rattles. Their greatest defense is fooling everyone into thinking they’re tough guys, but of course, that’s also why so many meet their demise at the business end of a shovel.
visiting hours
at the county jail
my brother confesses
all he ever wanted
was to be loved
About the Author
Joshua Michael Stewart is the author of Break Every String, The Bastard Children of Dharma Bums, and Love Something. His work has appeared in the Massachusetts Review, Salamander, Modern Haiku, Frogpond and many others. He lives in Ware, Massachusetts.