RHYME MINE
turned over a stone
was expecting
a scorpion
found
a solipsist
expecting
a scorpion not
my totem
or taboo
in which case
should have
thought fish cusp
with ram
and asp
would have been apt
but as sepent kind go
I do like to flatter
myself imagining
I must, could
be a mamba
a syllabic or alliterative few
metres of snake
claiming you as mine
as soon as cobra eyed you
swept
you into my coils
bade you, forced you
to teach me
couplets
ever-steady rhyme
turned over a stone
not expecting
to make
acquaintance
poems 2 die for 
This is a wonderfully clever and self-aware piece. The initial turn—from expecting a literal scorpion to finding a “solipsist”—is a fantastic philosophical punchline that immediately sets a witty, introspective tone.
The middle section is particularly charming, where the speaker second-guesses their own symbolic choices (“should have thought fish cusp / with ram / and asp”). It feels like watching someone’s brain work in real-time, overthinking and revising their own mythology, which is both funny and endearing.
The turn to the snake metaphor is smooth, especially the self-deprecating humor in “as serpent kind go / I do like to flatter / myself.” The aspiration to be a “mamba” and the move toward “syllabic or alliterative… metres of snake” cleverly links the subject of the poem to its very construction.
The final image of being “swept… into my coils” and being forced to “teach me / couplets / ever-steady rhyme” is a powerful and slightly menacing conclusion. It suggests that this discovered “solipsist” isn’t just a passive find, but is being actively, perhaps even aggressively, shaped and claimed by the speaker’s poetic will. The return to “turned over a stone” at the end perfectly bookends the piece, but the meaning of that action has been utterly transformed by the journey of the poem.
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