First Winter

I spent all last winter listening
to mice chewing through the woodwork
in my kitchen, nesting in the walls, got so
every rustle in the corner of my eye
was a fat, gray rat.

I began to understand Lovecraft
the crazy behind "The Rats in the Walls"
could see how the constant nibbling
and scratching could drive a person
to cannibalism, mad.

Sometimes, if I turned the heat way up
they'd crawl through the walls and
go to someone else's apartment
and it would be quiet and calm
but ninety fucking degrees.

So this year, I got a cat.

I Won't Leave This

this morning my son carried his teddy bear
by the arm and talked to it for almost
a whole hour and when he was done
playing he set it in a chair carefully
and kissed it on the nose and waved
goodbye to it before running away
to chase the cat and fuck you
if you're too hard-core and jaded to care.

and this afternoon he rode his toy horse
all around the kitchen wearing his
orange plastic sunglasses and when he
was done he got off the horse patted
it on the head and tried to put his
sunglasses on it and fuck you if
you think I'm getting old and boring
I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world.

^

Biography