The Shelter Series: Sally Ball
In Jim Longenbach’s poem “The Crocodile,” a metaphor between the speaker (aware of his own mortality, aware, so painfully aware, of been seen, of being scrutinized) and the stealthy reptile (taciturn, patient, predatory) is posited, inhabited—and also interpreted: metaphor becomes a subject of the poem.
Some people speak more openly by inefficient means.
And the steeper the path, the more
Arduous the climb,
The more likely we are to believe.
Inefficiency as a tool of seduction.
Also this poem is so funny: which is part of its slyness. It’s a good read for corona-seclusion because for us, too—well, I don’t want to flourish-finish with a spoiler. But… “Day is discontinued, motionless.”
What to do?
