Talking to Maureen Newman the other day she told me she had a snake story.
“I went out to my aviary to freshen the water for the birds when I noticed a big sidewinder curled up next to the water dish,” Mo said. “It was a female. I knew it was a female because she had a baby near her. I read somewhere that sidewinders engage in live birth. And babies stay with the mother for some time. I said to myself, ‘where are the rest of them?’ Then I moved the mother with a stick and she slithered off and out into the field next to my house. But I still needed to catch the baby. So I went into the house and put on my tall snake boots and found my snake tongs. Once that was accomplished I went outside to find the baby and when I did I picked it up with the tongs and took it out into the field so it could find its mother.”
Please see Maureen Newman’s memoir and poetry on Sunhous Review.
