The Rodent Revolution

Kevin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:41:53 +0000

A bit of preamble here: This was my entry for the National Poetry Competition 2009. Obviously I didn’t win anything, otherwise I wouldn’t be allowed to share this here. But the competitions loss is someone’s gain…or something else equally consolatory :) Anyway, here it is – I hope you find it enjoyable in some way. I quite enjoyed writing somethign a little bit different.

—

It was gloaming when I woke.

Scattered about the lawn were the beaten night-owls,

trading places with the prey which, triumphant,

hid among the garage creeper.

Dense leaves betrayed the presence of the mice,

but only by its stillness in two-tone light.

The rodents rejoiced,

and it was the falling feathers I spied next.

Some caught among clothes I’d neglected to collect,

and the washing line was taut,

where before I’d left it limp.

The clever imps.

Jumper-wrestling was suggested

by quill-pierced wool.

And so the plot unfolded.

Bleary-eyed, I viewed

splinters of the owly coats

Still falling through garden air.

Yet must I despair,

or just think these events slightly curious?

Certainly, without backing,

such visions might be spurious.

And as my ears found no inkling of sound through glass panes,

What I was seeing had no support.

…In spite of the washing line

which I hadn’t left taut.

Unsure of action

I lay back down, thinking of owls.

Tripped and fallen in tawny gowns.

But proof arrived, of rodents who contrived,

when the day came.

As through those self-same windows I glanced,

and noticed, hidden among the plants,

Not the now disappeared night-owls.

But the half-camouflaged foxes, come for them.

Pierced upon spiked trowels.

Kevin Pocock » The Rodent Revolution

The Rodent Revolution