Ophidiophobia

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

Jessica Reed

This is a snakeskin jacket! And for me it's a symbol of my individuality, and my belief... in personal freedom.