An Eastern Garter Snake, New England’s most common snake.
“I put out my hand and stroke
the fine, dry grit of their skins.
After all,
we are partners in this land,
co-signers of a covenant.
At my touch the wild
braid of creation
trembles.’’
— From “The Snakes of September,’’ by Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006). A U.S. poet laureate, Mr Kunitz, who grew up in Worcester, divided much of his time between New York City and Provincetown, where he had a famous garden.
