Catching
Such a laid back little animal,
white bellied, fat; it crossed my mind
carrying it downstairs in the trap
there might be half a dozen suckling quietly away
come morning.
Recently
we’ve had a run
of pygmy shrews.
So pissed off
at being caught,
they spin round
in the trap;
make it rock
and rattle
in the loft.
Half a minute’s
all they need
to void
in pellets
what there is
in bait,
and spray
the plastic
with a mist of urine.
Catch one,
you cannot hope
to sleep
until the trap’s
downstairs
on one rug,
covered with another –
and even then
an angry rattle
fills the house.
But this bank vole just wandered in the trap,
hoovering up every scrap of bait
before it even thought of turning round
and getting out again;
rattling the trip bar now and then
just to let us know that it was in,
then hunkering back to wash its face –
the way they do.
I envied it, relaxed in its captivity.
For three months
I’ve spun round
and round
the flatbed
tread wheel
of my cage,
called work.
Maybe tomorrow, when they ring,
I’ll quietly wander off and wash my face and hands,
thinking gentle bank vole things,
until they’ve gone away.
magazine list
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- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
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- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
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- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The