
'Buried In A Living Grave' & 'A Notable Enchanter': Two Poems by Ray Ball

BURIED IN A LIVING GRAVE
All venomous Wormes
were from the beginning
unreconcileable to God.
I could not let another man’s
mouth speake it.
Wilderness arising
out of the mortality of flesh.
A deeper secret contayned.
Serpents cast their skin
among thorns and bryars.
* This is an erasure poem. The original text is the epistle dedicatory of Edward Topsell, Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second book of Living Creatures: Wherein is contained their Divine, Naturall, and Morall descriptions with their lively Figures, Names, Conditions, Kindes, and Natures of all venomous Beasts…. (London, 1608).
A NOTABLE ENCHANTER
He did charm an excellent young man
to prove the verse of the poet lodged
in the saddle of dark night. With a charm,
he returned the prince’s nephew saying
come within that circle with the seed
of a vulgar tree that ripens in practice.
Afterward his arm was of the lineage
of Viper. In winter he practiced
this sport, pressed the roots of Dragonwort,
the brain of a Hare, a secret piece of herb
to grow himself into many other shapes.
Earth engendered of marrow and showers of rain.
* This is an erasure poem. The original text is Edward Topsell, Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second book of Living Creatures: Wherein is contained their Divine, Naturall, and Morall descriptions with their lively Figures, Names, Conditions, Kindes, and Natures of all venomous Beasts…. (London, 1608), 1-6.
Ray Ball grew up in a house full of snakes. She is a history professor, a Best of the Net and Pushcart-nominated poet, and an editor at Alaska Women Speak. Her chapbook Tithe of Salt came out with Louisiana Literature Press in the spring of 2019, and she has recent publications in Human/Kind Journal, Rivet, and SWWIM Every Day. You can find her in the classroom, in the archives, or on Twitter @ProfessorBall.