~
where do you come from
little guy
you
here
alone
under our bed
what are you doing
waking us
from our sound sleep
what is your intention
what’s under there
that’s so interesting
perhaps a morsel
of snacks-in-bed
maybe a wayward
snip of thread
certainly your intention
is not to hide
not scratch scratch
scratching on the frame
like you are
maybe
it’s just your nervous tick
wow
I get it now
my wife’s annoyance
with my constant leg bounce
but then
there’s her incessant tapping
with her writing pen
marriage is nothing
if not tolerance
but her sister
really
damned hard to believe
she’s from her family
and you
down there
where do you come from
where is your little house
mouse
you’re lucky
you know
you’ve been pardoned
tonight
granted a reprieve
my wife loves critters
critters all
large and small
she thinks you’re cute
she thinks you’re funny
she thinks you’re innocent
though you and me
we know better
don’t we
but
you’ve picked the right house
little mouse
the right bed
to be under
to pursue your plunder
you’re safe
…for now
~ ~ ~
rob kistner © 2013
He’s been warned!
can almost feel the little guy’s whiskers! love the way the poem itself scampers down the page, right down to the final warning…
Poor little mite. Not sure I would allow a mouse under our bed [more like my lass wouldn’t] but I would find him a decent home, preferably outdoors 😉
Fun read.
Wouldn’t give much for his chances if he comes back tomorrow night! lol
ha..safe for now…she should enjoy the moment…we once lived in an old farmhouse…i could write books about my events with mice..ha..smiles
…how nice of you & wife to have his company retained for days & nights… well i would love to have him too as long as his intention is not to bite my shoes… haha… your write appeals so William Blake to me… very wonderful…glad you shared this… smiles…
The phrase, “Kill them with kindness”, comes to mind. You were setting the little mouse up for the big trap by giving it a reprieve?
Ha! I once had such a critter in my house and I couldn’t even sleep for fear it’d jump on me!
Love the whimsy in this. Though my wife would not be so tolerant of the little fella’s nightly visits.
you make him sound so adorable, I however would be out the door and up a tree!!! so afraid of those little critters 🙂
excellent…fun to read
mice are so cute, but they carry such horrible diseases, i just as soon won’t talk to a mouse
quickening of the chakras
Fun, Rob. We have an older house with lathe and plaster walls, and around the time the seasons change we’ll hear a mouse or two scritching up and down from the basement to the attic. Makes the cats crazy.
I must admit, tho they are a nuisance, field mice are cute as a button 🙂
Week after week I see your links, but never do I see you comment on others’ poetry. Please don’t just link and run or post links without mentioning the site. We all appreciate comments. If you are not interested in responding to others at Poets United, why not just write for yourself and forget linking.
Mary, it is not a lack of interest, nor intentional insensitivity to the expectations of other poets. I am battling significant health issues that are limiting me at this tome.
I published and edited Writers Island for many years, a blog offering weekly prompts for poets. I visited my poet’s sites, encouraging them and commenting as time allowed. I also published daily prompts annually during NaMoWriMo, allowing the poets to link their daily poems. I also published and monitored a site for several years entitled Matinee Muse, also offering prompts, and enabling posted links.
This last year my health has been in dramatic decline, following a second heart attack, greatly exacerbaing my diabetes, and leaving me highly insulin dependent. My health became so bad at one point, that I hadn’t written for 6 months. I am just now finally able enough to essentially begin writing and posting again with some regularity, here during NaMoWriMo 2013. My medications are so many that I can hardly sleep at night. I am constantly exhausted. It is all I can do just to write my poems.
I do visit other sites as I am able, commenting when I see something that really catches me. I am hoping, as my condition improves and the insomnia and exhaustion lessen, I will be able again to be more active. I write to share at this time, I don’t seek or expect comments right now, nor has that ever been my reason for writing poetry. I was writing poetry several decades before the Internet.
If my present situation irritates you Mary, please just ignore my work. I regret I seem to have offended you. If I am not welcome at Poets United, and if others should indicate as such, I will no longer link there. It’s fine with me either way. I have people who have followed my poetry blog for years. I will always write.
Thanks for your explanation, Rob. Yes, I do remember Writers Island. I do understand health issues are difficult for you right now. Perhaps it would be possible to at least credit the sites you link to if you are not able to respond to individuals at all. You might remember back to the old days when that is how many we’re drawn to Writers Island. But if not, I do know people have choices. I just had to express my thoughts. Take care.
Going forward, to be sensitive to others I might upset, or unknowingly have upset, I will simply just post my NaPoWriMo links to the sites that are currently offering daily access to do so. I regret any feathers I may have ruffled.
Having been inactive in my writing for a number of months, my overriding intention was to work my way slowly back into “the groove” the best I could– and to share some new poetry in celebration of this special month.
The only other links I will post will be to any particular site whose prompt served as inspiration to the piece, and the links will be appropriately noted. Thank you Mary for calling my attention to a bit of shortsightedness on my part. Hope everyone’s NaPoWriMo 2013 is going well.