A NIGHTTIME SERACH FOR CROCODILES

This evening we will be searching for crocodiles
in the marsh. We would like to see some mating,
but it's not the season. The tackle light brightens
the periphery, all we will need to see.
We are equipped with mosquito net, tangerines, a tank
of water and batteries for the flashlight.
Now take your right hand and let me know
if there's a bulb down under the heat lamp.
If there's a bulb down under the heat lamp
we'll be all right for several hours,
if not all night. It does get cold out
among the slippery hills of peat, drifting
toward the open mouth where the river starts.
Only we won't go that way, or that far.
If you begin to miss your home or remember
what you forgot, remember, we don't have a radio.
We don't have a can of soup or a burner to heat supper.
If we get tangled in the rough of branches
where the saw grass conflates and the bullfrog
blows out its throat, don't be alarmed.