Rat
too small, warm,
foetal things, curled infant thumbs
pink and black beneath fur,
i fear you,
i feel pain sometimes
(the tips of my teeth ache)
i am soon to die
a piece of mold-bread or dry,
hard cheese:
“vermin”, or “pest”; you
exterminate; i hold on—
unrepenting, breeding, i am just like you
i am immortal,
multitudes surging beneath Lhasa and Vatican
and Calgary, even
i am— you
unknow it—among you,
unseen, i
feel death between my
ribs and tailbones,
feed and breed and hide and sleep and
feed and—
carry plagues on my back;
virus, bacteria in my saliva, in my muscle—
forget me drowning in
underground rivers of shit?
murderer?
i will take
your child’s face away
away from you
at night
— Montreal, 1999
February 10, 2012