Cultured

You’re not surprised to learn
That a single protein
For a potassium

Ion channel can change
A rattlesnake’s slither
To a rattling motion

Or its ability to rattle
To a slow slithering.
You’re not surprised, given

You’ve lived your beastly life
With glass-boned skeleton
Thanks to one amino

Acid switch transforming
A collagen protein.
You imagine yourself

As rattler in a lab,
Unable to threaten,
Whole body convulsing

With a rattling shiver
Every time you attempt
To slither in your cage,

Cage being the only
Environment in which
You’d continue to live.