“Ophidiophobia”
by Jessica Reed
Because:
. a garter snake slid over my bare foot
. a copperhead played dead on Spooks Branch Road
. a yellow python hugged a heavy scarf around my neck
. a cottonmouth came charging through a creek I was canoeing
. a black racer at the Nature Center teased a mouse for half an hour
. then swallowed it
. in the Temple of Doom, the belly of a snake split open, spilling
. snake-shaped babies
. I used to dream in snakes – I couldn’t move for stepping on them
. a snake exists that wears a fish’s body
. a man I shouldn’t love wore snakeskin boots
I read this poem in the Paris Review, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
I really like this poem because it ends in a very unexpected way. And it is very, very real.
In the beginning of the poem, she builds up the momentum of the poem by mentioning happenings that are increasing degrees of terrifying.
Once the momentum is built, however, she totally catches the reader off guard with that last sentence. I think it is a very effective way of emphasising that feeling of ‘terror’ that broken relationships can bring about, because the comparison of that relationship with these really gory circumstances has a lot of implicit meaning.
So effectively, by using compare and contrast in this poem, Jessica Reed succeeds in evoking a very strong feeling of terror and disgust for the bad man she once loved. She may only have spent a single line in the whole poem towards the man, but in doing so, she made her feelings for him very clear.
I thought it was a really cool way to think about it.
That’s the reason i like unusual metaphors so much: they are really really good at making you look at something in a completely new way.
I’ve also been listening to this new artist, Mitski. She’s a Brooklynite of Japanese descent. She makes music. I like a lot of her songs, but one of my favorites is one titled ‘Washing Machine Heart.’
Here’s an excerpt from her lyrics:
Toss your dirty shoes in my washing machine heart
Baby, bang it up inside
I’m not wearing my usual lipstick
I thought maybe we would kiss tonight
Baby will you kiss me already and
Toss your dirty shoes in my washing machine heart
Baby, bang it up inside
you can find the youtube version of the song here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3vjkh-acmTE
Also a very unusual metaphor, right? We’re all so used to hearing love being compared to stars, space, deep blue oceans, flowers, chocolate, drugs, rain, the Sun, all those usual motifs. But when you think closely about the lyrics to this song, it’s so obvious that a washing machine is absolutely PERFECT for describing the initial stages of attraction, (I don’t know what it feels like after the initial stages because I’ve never gotten there haha) so perfect, in fact, that it’s almost surprising nobody’s thought about it before.
The use of metaphors is that it helps us relate abstract or unfamiliar concepts to things about which we already know, so that we can better grasp their true meaning. But lately, I’ve been feeling like metaphors are becoming so trite, because everyone uses the same metaphors to describe the same feelings. And so, what more can you know, right? There’s something that I find very wrong in comparing your own lover to the same precious rose that poets have been using since the times of Shakespeare. There’s something so strangely impersonal about it.
This washing machine comparison, however, got my attention because of how unique it is. If you listen to the song, even the beats follow a progression which makes it sound like there’s an actual washing machine churning in the background. It was really cool.
