Reliquaria by R.A. Villanueva

Author:R.A. Villanueva [Villanueva, R. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: POE009000 Poetry / Asian / General
ISBN: 9780803276505
Publisher: Nebraska
Published: 2014-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

Traps

Scatter poison across a plate and slide

dish and all beneath the edge of an overturned wastebin

where a mouse is trapped. Tell yourself

there is no other way. Think of your wife who needs her peace.

Watch it first taste, then strike at the bait. Rest assured

the animal will eat whatever you feed it,

even these peppercorns flash-dyed turquoise. Imagine

the promise of cholecalciferol—of rock salt

at the veins when swallowed, of leech-jaws

onto bones. Imagine an overdose on your own

marrow. Sleep on how that death must feel.

Next day expect to meet in your living room nothing

but a tuft of fur, a segmented tail limp

and meaningless. Know swift darts of its calcium

still pierce the valves of its heart.

Tap the wire mesh with your right foot, test

your trap. Curse chemicals and the mouse

bounding toward you. Remember another trash can

in the kitchen. Fill it full with water

from the shower. Show the animal

what you have made for it before you combine the two.

When you check on things, note the kicking, its claw at the sides

as if to escape a flood. Forget its eyes

sinking as beads, as baubles.

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