The mouse has eluded
the trap beneath
the kitchen sink for three
nights in a row; the peanut
butter is gone, the trap
sprung and empty when I come
each morning to peek
behind the plastic can.
I picture his tongue
small and wet
as a snowflake teasing
the peanut butter
out from under the bar
the coil taut and tense,
his eyes wide
with the wonder
of what he does.
The dance must be
perfect, the timing delicate
as a sigh, the last lick
a flick of the tail
and the trap hurls
itself closed
on air.
Three nights
of such sorcery earns
him a life and the right
to leave his droppings
in the drawer.
- Susan A. Katz from “Dreaming Missouri” due out in 2022 from Austin Macauley Publishers, Inc.