2025 is the Year of The Snake in the Chinese calendar. So it’s fitting that one of the found poems I made in Visual Poetry: Seeing is Believing is about a snake, a particular snake.
A couple of years ago while hiking a mixed-use path, I came upon the stiff carcass of a dead garter snake lying on the path, presumably crossing it. The snake was obviously dead- its head was missing.
The hiking path allows mountain bikes, so it was impossible to know if the snake was run over accidentally or purposely killed. Since garter snakes are non-poisonous and harmless, purposely killing it is an unnecessary act of violence, but I don’t know what happened.
The headless snake had been dead awhile and nearly desiccated. I picked it up, wrapping it in some wax paper I had in my pack, and took it home, storing it on a freezer shelf. I have friends who cringe when I tell them this part.
Last year, I took the headless snake to the print making studio, and made a few monotype prints from it before discarding it. I wasn’t sure what I would do with the prints, so they remained in a file until this year when I came up with the idea of writing a found poem about the snake, and expanding on its visual impact by using the snake prints.
Here’s the poem:
The Snake
Rendered headless
Is dead.
Was this an accidental
Run over by vehicles
Or
The willful act of humanity?
In the hope
Of being overlooked,
Snakes,
Drawn to warm pavement,
Bask on sun-warmed roads
To sun themselves-
A volatile event of
Self-assertion
And
Self-cancellation
at once.
Julianna Paradisi 2025
Because stories should have happy endings, on the last page of the book, hidden in a small envelope, is a drawing I made of a snake’s head. It is my offering of gratitude for the sacrifice, inspiring the poem.
JParadisi (Retired) RN Blog 