from 'Wonderful and Wise'
Recalling yesterday
I choose the heat-lamp switch
for softer light—
and, yes, it's not just shadow
or a trick of predawn eyes—
but a cockroach in the sink!
I let down an edge of paper towel
hoping he will climb aboard
so I can shake him
to the ground outside
to his habitat of powdery dirt
and shafts of flexible green.
Who knows just what he sees
or how it feels
when insect feet try fibrous paper?
But he refuses
then tries again in vain
to scale the porcelain slope.
His choice for now—
to lurk through daylight
in the dank
beneath the stopper
and at night emerge
as from a manhole cover.
Let the voices of life bring in better choices. Nice work.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
This is something I can so relate....! Exactly the same thing has happened in my kitchen sink too! It refused to get on to the news paper I put for it! Finally I had to beat it down and kill, using a plastic broom! I had given it a choice to live or die, but unfortunately it opted for death! Beautifully presented!
thanks, valsa, for your reading this poem and comment. i'm glad you relate to it. i thought you'd like it after i saw yours on the fly who wouldn't turn around and escape. -glen