Family Ties

by Saumya Kedia

Family Ties

Some rats have been trying very
hard to get inside our home.
They’ve chewed through
exhaust fans to enter…
Littered our platform!
We have a daily bulletin so every family
member is up-to-date on this rat business.
My sister and I are in an argument about
who, Ratan Singh, the rat, should befriend.
My mother laughs at us, in relief, like parents do
when they learn their children are mostly good.
None of us consider killing the rats.
There’s too much death going around so
we’ve refused to lengthen the laundry list.
We don’t know whether Ratan Singh’s
alone or has a posse, but we’re more
confident about the latter, we like to
believe, he had help, as he worked
relentlessly on that exhaust fan.
Last night, we offered a piece of bread,
then more food, once it was fully eaten.

Saumya R. Kedia is a poet from Bangalore, India. She is working on her first manuscript of poems. She found poetry when there was nowhere else to go.

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