the alligator snapping turtle
enchants
drowsy little fish
with a red-tongued
lure
twitching and
dancing like
an exuberant worm
predatory jaws
snap
with a force as strong
as the memory
of a long
slow
winter
endured
in a frigid
rippleless
pond
she’s lulled
to sleep
by the flush
of the April sun
and the fullness
of the meal
she’s earned
vexed by the need
for air from the surface
she stirs awake
in muddy waters
and swaying reeds
peevish,
crotchety,
solitary,
cross
her beak-like face,
prehistoric
her algae infested shell,
pointed
with three ridges
like a haunted mountaintop
casting
shadows
on murky shores
in the springtime