Slow Death

While reading the book of poetry 180 more the poem “Slowly” caused me to feel a little uncomfortable and confused.  The poem basically describes a young child and her classmates watching a snake eat a rabbit. Also the poem describes how fascinated the children were by how slow the snake was swallowing the rabbit. The author is a woman that may have lost a family member or she might have issues with death.  By the way the author is expressing how amazed she was by the death of the rabbit. My first thought while reading this poem who would write a poem about a snake eating a rabbit? Maybe the author scared by this odd childhood memory? Or does the author have these vivid memories because she was shocked by the sad reality of Mother Nature?  The fifth stanza states “saying we couldn’t look, but looking, weren’t we held there, weren’t we. . .” She describes not wanting to watch but not being able to look away. She was almost stuck in a daze by watching the snake slowly devouring the helpless rabbit. Maybe the author was emotionally damaged by this experience? To some people watching a snake eat might be fascinating, but to me it is sad and not something I would want to watch. Reading this poem reminded me of an old childhood memory of my dog eating a cat. I was only five years old and I remember how upset I was and how it scared me. Maybe the author was scared by this experience?

In addition, a couple of negative aspects that bothered me were the author’s visual details on how “Its head clenched in the wide jaws of the snake, the snake sucking it down its long throat.” This made me cringe to think of a little rabbit’s head inside the mouth of a creepy snake. Why is the author writing a poem about death? Is the author an animal lover? Or does the author feel bad for the rabbit? On the other hand she seems to be almost intrigued by the gruesome sight of the snake swallowing the rabbit slowly. I understand that it is a neat experience to watch a snake eat, but to be fascinated by it is going too far. I did not understand why the author was an intrigued at first but then sad when she realized the rabbit was dead.

Overall, my understanding of this poem is that the young girls were captivated by the snake’s natural instinct to attack and swallow their prey. In a way the girls do not like it, but still stared with interest. In the poem the author states “. . . The way that snake took its time (all the girls, groaning, shrieking but weren’t we amazed, fascinated. . .” This depicts that the girls were mesmerized by the snakes natural ability to swallow their prey whole.  However, the last stanza in the poem the author portrays she may feel “grief by how slow the body is to realize. You are not coming back.” This also shows that the author felt sorrow for the rabbit after she realized it was dead and not coming back.