J. James Reider

Rattlemistake bite;

          venom seeping in my brain

   dulling the lucidity of my words

                     and blurring the clarity of my ideas.

 

         Venom seeping, creeping-

     paralyzing my thought

                freezing my creativity due to a-

rattlemistake bite.

 

The rattlemistake crept upon me

    and flashed a strike that attacked my central wordous system.

        Its fangs made of quotation marks

         its venom was white-out,

      to which I think I have analogy.

It flicked its parchment tongue-

  tasting, savoring the flavor of the noun.

             Struck dead was every character in my brain-

     and so I laughed as the slithering serpent drove me insane.

And it warned me that it was coming-

     when the rattle struck in my slurred annunciation-

     when I forgot simple word's proper dictation.

              And the rattlemistake lays before me

a question mark shape

its rattle makes the bottom dot.

The rattlemistake says to me:

      "Ignorance and arrogance make a pompous assonance."

   

             Trapped in a cell full of consonants-

              I must know, Mr. Rattlemistake:

               What is my sentence?

 

           The wound is shaped like a colon

         injecting the ink into alliteration disease

   and if you can't hear my cries for help

('tis because they are in parenthesis)

    And the venom continues to creep

         my creativity is dying slowly

            the hospital can not save me;

       I doubt they have an anecdote.