A Rat’s Lunch
for D.B.A.

i.
she toys with me
emotionally and otherwise
and any way she chooses

abuses me a bit
she laughs at it

ii.
I am without end
battling rats and weeds
and everything else
springing up along with love
along with poetry

at times not easy
to strike a balance
the battle goes on

iii.
$6.40 for food for rats,
damn

well, it's their last supper

iv.
white people look raw
and we look done

but all flesh is raw flesh
our flesh and their flesh

unfortunate 6 million Jews
were done, were cooked
were too done

were done with
were done for

were done away with

v.
we must avoid being stuck to any class
or to anything

anyone seems natural enough to add
but I am reluctant to
because I want to be stuck to you
want you to be stuck to me

me to be stuck with you
you to be stuck with me

dancing cheek to cheek
or whatever dance
or doing whatever

doing all things
together always

vi.
I don't suppose you'd lie on me
Oh yes I would, I responded
You'd lie on me, Obi

my God, of course I would
readily, gladly

haven't they the same spelling, I added
when she almost didn't get it

vii.
just as we can be
lacking in vitamin C or some other
so can an orange

I've heard from a medical doctor friend
of an orange being tested
and being found to contain no vitamin C

there I was thinking that an orange
was mostly vitamin C

another case of salt
that has lost its saltiness


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2010
Written between 2:45 p.m.
on Tuesday, August 10 and
7:01 a.m. on Sunday,
August 29, 2010