Rat City     

All animals are rats 

Fluff up a rat’s tail and it’s a squirrel 

Glue on some feathers and wings and it’s a bird

Shrink a rat’s ears and elongate its legs 
and it’s a cat 

A tree is a rat with leaves 

A baby is a rat without teeth 

A rat once ran into my boot

So now I have rats as feet. 

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Ballot

On the ballot this election:

A proposition to repeal 

a constitutional amendment 

that blocks a ban 

to overturn a law. 

 

Vote YES or NO or 

NOT-NOT NO. 

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Street Glow 

Rudy the red-faced meth head stole a shiny TV set. We stopped and watched while he 
jimmied open a panel in the base of a streetlight, 
plunked the TV down on the sidewalk, 
plugged it in, 
turned the channel until he got a foggy picture, 
jerked the antenna back and forth like a stag shedding its antlers,
rummaged around in a black plastic bag,
produced some sparkly tinfoil,
attached it to the antenna,  
dragged over a red 3-legged loveseat that had been leaning on the curb,
and bundled up under his big red laundry bag to enjoy a fuzzy old black-and-white 
Christmas movie.