Kate Buckley "The Courtship of the Lizard Lover"
He crawls through the cracks
of my stone foundation,
sly and sleek as
I tempt him with food.
He stays out of habit; I cook
out of love for things that move.
We grow accustomed to each other’s
trails and smells, the skins we’ve shed
along the long, long road
of rubbing each other smooth.
Till all the skins we’ve shed lie sparkling
like so many stones in this desert land.
I scoop him up in my hand
and eat him.
This poem is talking about a relationship between a lizard and a boy. The lizard is crawling into the cracks of the foundation to the home in which the boy is staying. Even though the boy is tempting the lizard with food, he is unable to get the lizard to come out. The boy is saying that he cooks out of love for the animals. The two grow accustomed to each other, like they are friends, and the boy watches for the lizard to shed its skin. The speaker talks about shedding their skin together, this is to portray the time in which has elapsed. The boy then scoops up the lizard in his hand, and then eats him. The reason why I chose this poem today is because it is very interesting. It reminded me at first of my fiancé because he had told me that when he was younger he would chase the lizards that would be under his house to try and catch them. He would not try to eat them, but when he would grab their tail it would fall off.