Crush Head Before Bitten

—after Nicolas Guillen's "Sensemayá"

i.

My fear takes the form of a snake with fangs

like vaccine needles, with scales like stingers,

eyes like the curve of sharpened nails piercing

skin in scarlet crescents. It coils

its claim in the back of my mind, slithers

to strike when my weak points show,

renders me paralyzed by the potential

that the worst is yet to come.

ii.

The snake charmer calls

Sensemayá!

and the drum-echoes beat

Sensemayá!

and the serpent snakes forth

Sensemayá!

and a heel crushes his head

Sensemayá!

and that wicked snake is dead.

iii.

My fear takes the form of a snake with fangs

like needles, sharp scales, and when it strikes forth

I must conjure a snake-charmer's cry and call

the demon's name—Sensemayá!—and I must crush

its skull beneath my heel, defend myself from paralysis

so that I can proudly claim to my company

that the wicked snake is dead

and I'm the one who slaughtered him.

Amanda Trout is an undergraduate student at Pittsburg State University majoring in Creative Writing and Spanish. Her poetry has been printed in several publications, including Cow Creek Review, The Lyric, and littledeathlit. She was a poetry finalist for the 2021 Lex Allen Literary Festival and nominated for the 2021 Rhysling Award. Her work is forthcoming in the Bacopa Literary Review and Balm, an anthology by The Ravens Quoth Press.