River-of-Grass Beast

This picture is from http://smithsonianscience.org

A monster Burmese Python,

captured in the Everglades,

breaking the state size record,

stretching seventeen feet seven inches,

bursting with 87 eggs.

This thing--monstrous--

A foot wide.

The snake-- under surveillance--

fitted with a radio transmitter,

like a captured spy,

a double agent, a Judas snake.

It’s usefulness at an end.

it was euthanized.

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© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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On Tuesday August 14, 2012, there was a story in the Orlando Sentinel about the Burmese Pythons in the Everglades.  I did a news print poem about it, but I didn’t post it because I used another poem that day.

Florida has instituted “The Great Python Challenge” to try to reduce the numbers of these snakes in Florida.  It’s a one-month hunting season for pythons with a prize of $1,500 for whoever kills the most and a $1,000 prize for whoever gets the largest.

Burmese pythons in the Everglades are big news right now.  Senator Bill Nelson was out hunting pythons last week, and Stephen Colbert did a segment about the python hunt on his show this week.