A Group of Rats Is Referred to as a Mischief
––Jeff Andrews LCpl
By Joseph Zaccardi
Male rats are called bucks while unmated females
are referred to as does and pregnant or parent
females are called dams while the infants are
called kittens or pups and there’s a species of
rodents indigenous to Vietnam about the size of a
full-grown Boston Terrier that runs in packs and
we heard their menacing rumble under our
Quonset hut bumping the tongue and groove
floorboards and when I say we I mean a squad of
nine soldiers sometimes called grunts or draftees
or sometimes referred to as enlisted or as cannon
fodder or comrades-in-arms or cited as departed
heroes so we lowered our voices sensing that these
oversized rats could hear us and attack and for
once our mouths were dry in this country of
humidity and beauty and pleading and in a while
this passel of rodents was gone but we stayed put
whispering softly to each other and made a
promise not to mention our fear if we got back to
the states but of course in hindsight after all these
years scattered across American towns and cities
like pack rats bushy-tailed woodrats field and
marsh rats I think we miss not being unified in our
unease I think we miss being back together.
Joseph Zaccardi: To write a single poem is a selfless act and a minor miracle. But
miracles, minor or otherwise, don’t happen by happenstance; they are engendered in
part by hard work and in part by the generous help of others. His Sixth book of poetry,
Songbirds of the Nine Rivers, will be published by Sixteen Rivers Press in 2023.
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