New Poems Page

Rats

… first a dead one bloated in the back lane
tail trailing in the ditch out of which
it came, then two on the roof readying
to rappel down my chimney, next a daring
daylight sidewalk ambush: unleashed
from the mocking chthonic gods, a rich-brown
Norway pointed on both ends, shoe near
running from my stamping and spitting
my whimpering primal alarm! What more!
A farrago under the sink? Nests in my mattress
so I begin the metamorphosis into endlessly
chewing, screwing, wall-scrabbling nightly
be-lurching at every human sound I hear
at the stilled trap, the delicious poison placed