print previewback JANET MCNALLY
What is the most venomous animal?
When I dream the poison
it’s green, absinthe
in a crystal glass. Or safe
inside the moon-globe
of a box jellyfish,
looping a slow orbit
through the Pacific, looking
for me. Urchin-breath
and rattlesnake tongues, forked
like a memory:
pain holds you
to the earth. Grief
lets you go. I dip my leg
into saltwater, and when
the sting comes, I think
of stonefish, cone snails, lapis-
blue frogs. Antidote
is a failed sun, venom
its corona. We tried,
you’ll say, but there just
wasn’t time. 
Is there any proof that unicorns exist?
What is the most venomous animal?