mice

[mindbum]

mice

1)

things are funny lately. i have trouble getting out the door. can’t go to sleep or get up early. keep seeing mice out the corner of my eye. sometimes i see them out the front of my eye but those are usually real.

something, real or hallucinated, ate my avocado.

my herbalist’s father, an ex-exterminator from jersey, says it has to be a rat. my herbalist says rats climb walls, she seen it. i am three flights up. i prefer to think i am not seeing rats out the corner of my eye and that the rats havent taken to wearing bowties or using my needles and thread.

i wish these mice or... i wish these mice would do something about the rapidly browning bananas on the dresser.

her father says it’s a rat with a cape goes by Rollie. in my drawing the cape was red. his tail stretched and spiraled and peeked around corners.


2)

about those mice. full of vigor, surely.

you can see the feral lust in their eyes and in the nibble marks on the tomatoes. harlem mice, i suppose, are more wild than other city mice to compete with the cockroaches, enormous waterbugs, the rats and the inestimable pride of hunting cats that largely outnumber the prowling police at the precinct down the block.

i went out this morning with a purpose. traps. i opened the package. placed a crust of bread on the trigger. drew back the heavy spring to its full position. the trap broke, snapped and flew both willy and nilly from my hand. luckily missing my face. i picked the offending article up from the floor and immediately recognized the design flaw and decided not to rectify it. as they came 2 for 99cents at Bab’s 99cent store where they conspicuously charge tax.

i pulled my shoes back on and marched out into the street. back to Bab’s. the gate was shut so i wento to Mumbo 99cent store just down the block. some gentlemen were meteing out a heated discussion in west african french i drifted in and out of understanding a word or four and looking agog at the merchandise. many a cleaning product and useless thing.

to the counter:

-do you have a mousetrap?
[he pauses. more interested in the french.]
-no more of these


3)

4 gluetraps for a dollar seven. they seem hardly large enough to capture the likes of sturdy mice. such an agonizing stickiness. got my finger in the glue and imagine the slapstick potential. just like fly paper in a black and white comedy short. persistence is a key to trapping. for the sport i prefer traps that snap. according to the spanish on the box trampa is the word for trap. like stamp, tramp, tromp, stomp. with all that stickiness it’ll be hard to bop em on the head. with the wooden traps the blow most often kills. the fatal snap. back or neck broken. the rare crushed skull. creased.

4)

wouldnt it be interesting if things made enough sense you wouldnt really believe it was mice you saw from the corner of your eye. and not his big cousin, the too-feared, rat. but whatever lurks in the periphery is a hallucination. a psychomechanical representation of a gnawing rodent that darts where human discernment of action is keenest. so you can see what’s sneaking up on you. oh you’re seeing mice isnt it nice. yes. but it’s not mice really. i say mice in place of something unidentifiable and strikingly unsettling. mice are cuter. and present a tangible physical situation. would you believe they’ve eaten another avocado? this one stowed carefully at the highest seemingly least attainable level. where i’ve kept the bread for weeks. but nay atop the bookshelf, atop the stereo atop the hat atop the pile of books atop the stereo atop the bookshelf. atop the hat. this means they’ve gotten to the bread. luckily the canopener lies dormant. the tuna and sardines are safe.

where’s the cat to eat the sardines? just me to eat the sardines since the they cant open the can of fish. no cat.

maybe the mice are looking for something. though, they’ve already found avocados. surely they’ve explored the nooks and crannies of this makeshift cell and its closet. nothing here is hid. i stuffed rolled up napkins into the hole in the wall by the exposed electrical outlet where they came and went in my sleep. what are they getting at with this gnawing? the nutritional value of an avocado is exceptional. bread doublewrapped in plastic calls for gnawing. still, plump tomatoes freely range the bedside table. with scattered change and empty honey jars. a clove of garlic and a molded plastic gunman quick on the draw.

i havent seen a cape. it might be a full moon. it’s fat and yellow above the buildings. the immortal soundless moan agape over what’s been built.

[stilltrucking]

....

[mindbum]

ah yes the famous mouse on the shoe trick. as good as the mouse across the sleeping body trick. or better yet the mouse across bed of passion trick.

rodentia.

i do owe you something. not an apology or a nickel. but a thanks for taking the time to read what i posted and by golly even respond. so, thanks.

i've moved back in with my cat so mice are no longer an issue.

[Doreen Peri]

I love this piece! You took an ordinary pest problem and turned it into a pensive piece of literature. Nice job! I especially liked the breaking of the parts.... sorta like scene changes... and thought changes...

-dp

Rats!

I almost forgot to say....welcome to S8. Good to have you here. I'll look forward to reading more of your work.

[mindbum]

thanks doreen.

and thanks for your invitation. i've been feeling like a good message board frenzy. it can get juices flowing and the mind aworkin. and i like the lay of the land.