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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