Snakes Used To Have Ankles

 I

Lately

Scientists
have concurred
 

that ancient snakes

had small hands
ankles, toes.

Tubular

amphorae storing

temptation

and those

appendages,

for grasping.

 

What?

I asked my husband
a scientist
as well.
    

     II

The storm light

( he said)
through which you slid
into my life.

Your own grip

lineaged from
their sleight of limb

tempting me

to taste a poem.

A swan's egg

that hatched
Helen of Troy.

An onion

Sylvia peeled,
her thumb print
impearled.
 
Those blue plums
ripe and cool
Carlos ate.

The infinitude

of salt

Pablo said
would sing
yes sing;

but I never heard

anything
 
until

I sparkled some

on an artichoke

stripping it

scale by scale
and felt a voice
shed metaphor.

Low and languid,
girthed in subtlety,
those  green whorls
of lotus

 sang, My Love,

sang  as solely yours!
___________________

This poem was inspired by a news article on line with the same title. It showcased a comprehensive study that scientists have done on the movement, bone structure and body composition of Jurassic snakes. And yes, they concluded they had tiny limbs and evolved on land rather than water. So this idea expanded into the idea of a female poet who discusses this finding with her scientist husband. He is bemused and admits that she probably, as a seductress and writer, inherited her "grip" on him from those mysterious and almost mythical creatures; thus tempting him, even leading him to taste the splendor of a poem. Something that is  unscientific and at times defies logic and reason. The allusions here range from  Virgil (The Aeneid )  to Sylvia Plath to William Carlos Williams and Pablo Neruda.