been living with rats for years
mistook turds as quaint seeds
teeth marks as odd messages
– even had words with one
we’re a different family you know
he said quietly, described their
taxonomy, rodentia muridae,
apologised for raiding the hens’ grain
but there are thousands of you
I said amazed, so where on
earth do you all fit in – there
can’t be that much room
we adapt, get by on crumbs he
sighed – like you we find the
space to breed and live life lustily
because there’s no guaranteed
tomorrow
© 26 September 2008, I. D. Carswell
An interesting conversation. The rationality of the four-footed, furry speaker in this poem makes me smile, especially when 'he' says "like you..." in the last stanza.
ReplyDeleteCheers.