Headline Poem 5/16/14 -- Alligator Bites

(Photo credit Google Image) 

I read this headline today about a photographer who took a picture of a model and an alligator taking a bite of an alligator purse. You can imagine the various reactions. For me, I thought about the alligator being manipulated on film for simply biting what was put in its way.

Alligator Bites

There are fewer traces
of her than before.
Alligator bites with deadly,
dripping
teeth are only a threat
if you get too close
and attempt
to invade and penetrate
her space
(or share your purse in a rat race).

She will hurt you
if you
put yourself in the water
with her,
if you
search for her,
if you
attempt to uncover
her madness,
and her desire to eat
your flesh.

She doesn't want that,
but she will
if
you act like a duck
or deer
or a mossy-bottom lake
she may, by mistake,
treat you as the
occasional, replaceable
golf ball she
gobbles
for fun because
she is bored and
it is there.

Back away and
do your
own thing,
and
she may eat your pet,
or swing your baby doll
around
like bacon on a hot stove,
but she won't get you
because she can't.

You are quick
and in-tune,
and
she will
grow
uninterested
in you
too.