I have a rat in my kitchen

he's grinding his baccy stained teeth

under his sticky brown moustache

he strains his throat to speak

'you want to forget about this '

'incase you get old'

'you write a good poem, 

you have potential'.

He does a bit of this and that this rat

 nothing more penetrative

no less pervasive than a lull, a lazy dull

anulled

always watching from the corners

snitching in the dark

rubbing thin fingers together

matching no spark.

 

The dream comes back to me

Im seven, im lying in bed, in the sweat.

40 rats with swatches of straw on their backs

marching forward

with biblical precision .

Daniel told me there would come a day they made 

sense

incensed

1. Perfume with incense or a similar fragrance: "the aroma of cannabis incensed the air".
2. Make very angry: "incensed by the accusations".

This rat looks like its taking a piss

all over my floor

it tries to gnaw my ankle but I kick it off 

It takes a look at the books

sniffs his nose up and goes to the pub.

he left a smell but not a stain

and the pain subsides.

 

Damned rats

don't let them in,

they hang around in packs.

i keep a brick handy

the only thing they understand

and read bits of the bible 

and scribble down the 0845s

there is a language of thieves, liars

grumbling in the undergrowth

stitching the swatch

'its not straw, just grass

thats the catch.

two bit

tin, flint, nothing

you dont have to seek cos theres nothing to find.'

they say

Finders keepers 

Losers weepers

Im not shedding any tears

i broke the back of that dream

40 rats later

and a silent scream.

It said:

Buy everything brand new cellophane packed in the store.

Nothing More.