A familiar sound stirred me from the maelstrom of sleep:
\nour ex-cat used to shake her head, flipping her ears;
\nthe familiarity almost let me glide back into the flow,
\nbut a flickering shadow swooped along the wall
\nlike a twig caught on the outer edges of the swift current:
\nthere was a bat in the bedroom.<\/p>\n
I rose gasping from the sleepy current
\nI saw it circling swooping
\nI heard the flicker snap of its wings
\nI turned on the light<\/p>\n
“What is it?” she gasped beside me
\n“Bat”.<\/p>\n
Paradoxically
\nshe both dove under the covers
\nand rose gasping completely
\nabove the roaring rapids of midnight
\nSimultaneously
\nthe frightened blinded bat
\ndove for the bottom
\nof the corner of the room.<\/p>\n
“Go out into the hall and close the door”
\nShe did.<\/p>\n
Cautiously, I made my way
\nacross the the fire zone
\npoking jungle vines aside
\nwith the muzzle of my
\nsteaming firearm.<\/p>\n
I shone the flashlight down
\ninto the dark corner.
\nThe little pile of pale leaves
\nclung to the side of a knitting bag
\ncamouflaged, ready to let loose
\nwith grenades and heavy weapons fire<\/p>\n
It was me or him
\nI thought ungrammatically
\nbut appropriately<\/p>\n
He was absolutely still
\nin my sites
\nI misspelled for the fun of it
\nbecause I had him.<\/p>\n
In the end I carried
\nthe bag, focusing the
\nflashlight’s beam
\nonto the little still
\nbundle of leaves
\nclinging to the side of it<\/p>\n
It stayed on the bag
\nuntil I released it out the
\nback door into
\nthe cold winter night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A familiar sound stirred me from the maelstrom of sleep: our ex-cat used to shake her head, flipping her ears; the familiarity almost let me glide back into the flow, but a flickering shadow swooped along the wall like a … Continue reading