Cottonmouth Country by Louise Gluck

This poem is a bit difficult to understand completely. The title is referring to the cottonmouth snake. The poem seems dreary. It has a sense of loss to it. The fish bones, I think, represent dead animals. The line that confused me the most is the line: "Birth, not death, is the hard loss." Usually death is considered a loss, but in this case, birth is. Maybe it refers to the shedding of skin mentioned in the next line. When the snake leaves its skin, it leaves a little of its protection behind. I think the poem is about starting life and the struggles that occur. Sometimes it seems easier to stay as we are and not grow, but it is important to take risks and become better by growing.