Rat

It fell on me

As I lay in bed

From the rafters.

Only a small rat.

But still

Like a woman
I screamed.

Rat

Scurried away.

I

Lay taut, alert, twitching,

All night unsleeping.

Killing mosquitoes

I lay down in the long grass
And let them come
With their whining wings
And I killed them one by one
With a slap on the wrist.

I laid out their little bodies
All rigid delicate legs and probosces
On an orange groundsheet.

And I counted eighty-one, before I though I oughter
Call a halt to the slaughter.