Thursday, April 29, 2021

Rats around my house

Based on a writing prompt: Rats, so agile and curious, surround my house.

In my dream,

Rats, so agile and curious,

Surround my house.

I don’t live there anymore.

I don’t remember seeing rats

Although I did find a dead mouse on my driveway one time.

I left it there,

It was gone by morning.


Parsing my dream.

A house I no longer live in,

Rats, 

Curiosity

Agility.

What did I do today

that put rats and my house

in my mind?

I remember the rats in New York City,

Outside the office building where I worked.

They were big

With long tales.

They came out before sunset,

Lounged on the concrete

Went wherever they wanted to on the plaza,

Because, seriously, who was going to stop them.


My house in suburbia

Didn’t have rats,

Just that one mouse,

And snakes in the yard.

It wasn’t my favorite place to live,

It was always just a house to me,

Never a home.

Maybe that’s why the rats

Surrounded it in my dream.

Maybe they were curious 

To see what kind of creature

Doesn’t abandon a sinking ship,

Like they do.

Yes, it was a dream

Not reality,

Rats, agile and curious

Surrounding my house.

Keeping me out or keeping me in?

I’ll never know,

The dream woke me up.