Roaches, Laughing

[jim turner]

In those nights we had
no ice cubes except big ones
which we picked at for little pieces
in bourbon on rocks.

Daring roaches shared
our basement home,
played “run bug run”
and “catch me if you can”
on its plasterboard
walls while we drank beer
or whiskey or wine
and threw ice picks at them.

We never hit or even scared
one but we made a lot of holes,
tiny black stars in chalky skies.

Sixty years later and still
I hear them laughing,
children on a playground
with white grass, far away.

[Doreen Peri]

Very vivid piece. I think I was there. Fine writing.

Actually, for real... I lived in an apartment building once which was overridden with the nasty little creatures. No matter how many times the management had the exterminator come to treat the entire building, they came back. They live in the walls. I think they'll survive Armegeddon. They're probably the oldest creatures on the planet, too. I had a roommate back them who named them like pets. Gross, huh? 1970s. I vaguely remember parts of that decade.

Nice to see you here, Jim! Welcome to the Studio!

[jim turner]

The years were 1948-49-50 in the basement of an apartment building near the U of Missouri, where I got my BA in '50. Roaches are survivors; I heard just a few days ago that one can live without its head for 9 days, after which it dies of starvation. I never saw one die of an ice pick. jim

[judih]

great piece, Jim
When the cockroaches are the size of baseball mitts, ice picks work better (note to self)

[jim turner]

Thank you. Some in the southeaster US get rather large. Any bigger than that their body armor would deflect darts. jim

[stilltrucking]

The cockroach was here 150 million years before the dinosaurs and they will be probably be here after we are gone. Yes the meek will inherit the earth.

When I first got to Texas I woke up one night and thought the furniture was moving. Everything is bigger in Texas.

I enjoyed your poem.

[SmileGRL]

aah memories! yours made me smile.

when i started working, i lived in a backyard apartment (used to be a garage), i had all kinds of bugs & unwelcome visitors, but the geckos were the worst. the little buggers were everywhere, specially where i didn't expect them...like falling through my hair into the sink as i washed my face, or running out of the washer when i wanted to do laundry. i wasn't really scared of them, but they surprised the hell out of me.

[judih]

ah yes, geckos. And their trails of shit that cling to white walls. yes. outside they're a delight. inside, i wish they were more polite.

[SmileGRL]

...and rhyming at that.