a rat in my mouth

Tessa Han

there is a rat in my mouth

he hides behind my teeth

in a little space under my tongue

is where his things he keeps

he is afraid of the Light

so i can never open my mouth

and he is afraid of People

so he will never come out

he only eats grains of sugar

so my teeth are rotting through

and he had a divorce with his wife

after she said they were through

now she has taken the house

their truck and the kids too

and he pays her weekly alimony

of five morsels of cheese in lieu

of actual monetary value

for he also lost his job

(he likes to say he quit)

because he threw a stapler at his boss

when he said “that’s it!”

you mope and complain too much

and what’s more than that you try

to sabotage my marriage!

just because yours died!