The First Away

Caught basking, by a tread too near, the snare was
not being in the grass. Ventriloquist,
the slither of a belly faked the breeze
it got mistaken for, a trompe l'oreille

shown up by sheer length racing, and a weight
as grounded and continuous as a rope
pulling, distinctly, through the undergrowth.
One glimpse is proof: the skin that shines like fish
...