.................................
Elise
.................................

My rat
is crawling sideways
along the lip of the lid
of her cage,
one front
and one back
paw
splayed against glass
like she is Spider-man
and this is Manhattan sky.

She has been mostly still now
for days,
moving like this
hardly at all.

Her sister,
with her constantly
for a year
now gone.

She knows
how a small place
gets larger
incrementally
by minutes.

She knows the stretch
of the space,

once, someone next to you
that you
smothered
for warmth.

.................................
C.C. Russell
.................................

 
Copyright © C. C. Russell
April 1998

...a poem in this room by Deborah Kilgore...
los caballos del tiempo antiguo
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