A Series of Haiku: Of the Rat

This is a poem I wrote during the time I lived in an apartment with a rodent problem. It used to drive me insane to hear them throughout the night while I was studying or even procrastinating.

Thankfully, I no longer live there and no longer deal with the rodents.

A rat stays at home

for the same reasons I do;

it won’t quit eating.

Nocturnal: by dusk,

the rat masters the slow tear

of drywall and wood.

Year of the Rat: no

mercy on the bones and flesh

of Spring this quarter.

I pray the sun shines

all day long so it breaches

the tenants’ dark cave.

The girl gives the rat

a nest of cotton, scented

with peppermint oil.

Thank you for reading. Good day, kind reader.

© Cherish Yang 2022