AT THE PLEASURE OF THE PRESIDENT

It is easy enough to kill a mouse
Even to wound or maim or squish;
Crush with a shoe. I have seen it done. I have seen this,

The outcome; petite legs broadened,
Turned awkwardly outward

Like some unsuspecting possum on the road,
Like a newly wet canvas of an enraged serial killer,

And how afterward the sole of the shoe seems different,
As if invincible, carrying now the influence of death.

Yes. It is easy enough to kill a mouse,
Even to wound or maim or squish,
Crush with a shoe. I have seen it done. I have seen this.

It is not, I suppose, like crushing a child.
It is not, I suppose, like flattening the human frame,

Unless you’re a monster marching through the village
Stomping the least of the insignificant clutching at giants.



© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman