Bio
John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in Schuylkill Valley Journal, Stillwater Review and Big Muddy Review with work upcoming in Louisiana Review, Columbia Review and Spoon River Poetry Review.
Trigger Warning
As I trudge through swamp,
I seem to be the largest,
most fearsome, dangerous,
creature here.
The trees are stunted.
Tiny frogs croak.
Crickets crackle.
Heron wings flap
and deer hurry off into the brush
at my approach.
On the far bank, an alligator
bakes its cold blood.
It eyes me cautiously.
I’m not its prey
and it’s not mine.
Same with the snakes.
They slither away
on the ripples I make.
Only a mosquito dares come near,
lands on my neck,
nips me before I swat it.
I won’t die from the bite.
Unless, that is,
indignity is a death.