Back

CL Bledsoe


DAVE MATHEWS

 

   

It's so cold in the apartment our pet rats are sneezing. She

says, "You've ruined a lot of things

for me. I may not be able to believe

in God anymore, but I can believe in Dave Matthews."

 

We've given one of the rats medicine. We can only afford it

for one. It was sick first and it spread. They share, like children

in books from the 1800s. If it gets well, maybe that will spread.

 

They treat us like rats, groom us

if we lie where they can reach us.

She plays "Satellite" and one of them sticks

its nose in my ear. Another roots in my hair, crawls

on top of my head and sits.

She laughs, it rings out like music. My ears

are filling. Maybe it will spread.


CL Bledsoe has work in over 150 journals, including Nimrod, Margie, The Cimarron Review, and Canopic Jar. His first collection, Anthem, is forthcoming later this year. He is an editor for Ghoti Magazine.

 

Back