Alligator Proof
alligators are intelligent;
for one, they show great restraint
their primary prey is the wood duck;
they might float steadily just below the surface near one for an hour
alligators transport their babies in their U-shaped mouths;
when things get scary, they snap them safe
wood ducks have squat beaks that cannot snap;
orange and brown tipped or dull, depending on sex
male wood ducks have painted jowls and green iridescent mullets;
they always look surprised or tired
females can hide on brown water by sitting very still;
slender blue striping their wings’ ends
alligators can rise without a ripple; only their eyes
break the surface—a human can scare an alligator off
if a wood duck lives through its first attack
it is alligator-proof from then on
this is what researchers observe over and over
still without a theory of how fragility defeats monsters
- © Megan Wildhood 2021
Megan Wildhood is a neurodiverse lady writer in Seattle who helps her readers feel genuinely seen as they interact with her dispatches from the junction of extractive economics, mental and emotional distress, disability and reparative justice. She hopes you will find yourself in her words as they appear in her poetry chapbook Long Division (Finishing Line Press, 2017) as well as The Atlantic, Yes! Magazine, Mad in America, The Sun and elsewhere. You can learn more at meganwildhood.com.
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