Clay and I were in the desert,
we were looking for snakes,
and he was telling me he'd decided
he might make bombs for a living,
long, slender missiles
that burst in the sky.

On the ground,
I saw a toppled sign
on top the perfect image of a snake,
metallic black, no eyes,
its jaw stretched wide open,
and its tongue a small, sharp arrow.

Clay said it wasn't a real snake,
that he'd made one as well, then
I noticed beneath his feet
another half carved metal snake,
lying in the desert beneath Clay's feet,
the same black metal skin, only
its back was coated bright,
candy apple, like make-up,
or beautiful, healthy skin,
and Clay showed me a marker,
said he'd coloured the back of his metal snake,
so it'd look natural.

Later, we descended into my girlfriend's basement
to look for snakes down there,
and Clay had a thick, red Mag-Lite
that I wished was mine.

We went back upstairs after
and told everyone
that there were no snakes,
and then my girlfriend's dad called,
and he talked to his wife about the snakes,
while she said
he hadn't bothered to call in weeks,
and after all of that,
my girlfriend's mom told us
that her husband said,
"Tell Clay he did a good job,
and that I'm proud of him."