yesterday
i killed a cockroach
crawling
across
the kitchen stove
smacked
it
with the heel
of my palm
it
flipped on its back and
kicked
and kicked
and
kicked
i imagine
it cussed
and prayed
in cockroachese
god!
please!
and
fuck me running!
alas
it wasn’t
spite
it wasn’t
smite
it committed
no sin
(alas)
i smacked it
again
with the heal of the palm of the hand of an unkind
ungod
it kicked
no more
i wanted
to cook some chicken
in a clean kitchen
it wanted
to borrow a grain of sugar
Gah! I like the cockroach’s plea – likely the way any dying thing feels……but such an encounter in the kitchen would get the same response from me. Only I would have to use a shoe!!!!
Wait, wait, that was GREGOR SAMSA!! Oh no! He was on a layover at DIA and just stopped in to see the Johnsons. Kafka’s going to have to re-write the script. Maybe this time with Keanu Reeves. Although I think we’d all agree it would be best with Brando as Kurtz – “the horror, the horror.” Great write my freind, you put everything in perspective there at the end.
well, he should have worn a hat. i would have recognizes him as human if only he wore a hat. that’s what separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom, our love of hats. if fact, if he had worn a hat in kafka’s story, the ending would have been completely different, he would have been beloved and successful in life, no one would have known he was really a cockroach in a stylish fedora (he would have been 3 times the salesman, maybe even salesman of the year!) there’s a poem in this somewhere, i can feel it.
well, i don’t know about “lovely” heh, but yes, everyday, never overlook the “everyday” poems. remember that master joshu teaches us to always “wash our bowl”. thank you rajani, glad you enjoyed this
Love qbit saying it was Gregor Samsa. i am happy to say that I never saw a cockroach until I moved to Texas, and have never seen another one since i left, but i saw lots of them while there, even the flying kind. They are so gross. I doubt that your cockroach has the ability to have many thoughts at all, just EAT MAKE BABIES EAT MAKE BABIES. I am the type who carries spiders outside on a letter or in a cup, but things i will gleefully kill are cockroaches, mosquitos and those drain things with a million legs, which I have a full-on horror of. I will also kill ants if they get in the house. I believe that every living thing wants its life as much as I want mine, and that they woke up being what they are just like I did, but i do draw the line at some things.
i didn’t even know we had cockroaches in colorado until i moved into the building i’m in now. this place is horrible, but its what i can afford at the moment. in don’t see many in my apartment, but when i do, i don’t just kill them, i spray (living things or not, i’ve learned to hate cockroaches) i learned that spiders eat cockroaches, so i never kill or remove spiders, they have earned their keep =)
jalopy dreams 
Gah! I like the cockroach’s plea – likely the way any dying thing feels……but such an encounter in the kitchen would get the same response from me. Only I would have to use a shoe!!!!
LikeLike
Wait, wait, that was GREGOR SAMSA!! Oh no! He was on a layover at DIA and just stopped in to see the Johnsons. Kafka’s going to have to re-write the script. Maybe this time with Keanu Reeves. Although I think we’d all agree it would be best with Brando as Kurtz – “the horror, the horror.” Great write my freind, you put everything in perspective there at the end.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Or Archy, of Archy & Mehitabel. he may have killed a fellow poet!
LikeLiked by 2 people
no! not archie! noooooooooo! what have i done! i was already feeling bad about it, now i feel worse.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have spoken to Horatio Caine, in town on business, and he verified that the victim was not Archy. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good to know, if you happen to see him, tell him I bought him a hat
LikeLiked by 1 person
well, he should have worn a hat. i would have recognizes him as human if only he wore a hat. that’s what separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom, our love of hats. if fact, if he had worn a hat in kafka’s story, the ending would have been completely different, he would have been beloved and successful in life, no one would have known he was really a cockroach in a stylish fedora (he would have been 3 times the salesman, maybe even salesman of the year!) there’s a poem in this somewhere, i can feel it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome.
LikeLike
Wow… you transformed the everyday into a lovely poem..love the closing lines.
LikeLiked by 1 person
well, i don’t know about “lovely” heh, but yes, everyday, never overlook the “everyday” poems. remember that master joshu teaches us to always “wash our bowl”. thank you rajani, glad you enjoyed this
LikeLike
Love qbit saying it was Gregor Samsa. i am happy to say that I never saw a cockroach until I moved to Texas, and have never seen another one since i left, but i saw lots of them while there, even the flying kind. They are so gross. I doubt that your cockroach has the ability to have many thoughts at all, just EAT MAKE BABIES EAT MAKE BABIES. I am the type who carries spiders outside on a letter or in a cup, but things i will gleefully kill are cockroaches, mosquitos and those drain things with a million legs, which I have a full-on horror of. I will also kill ants if they get in the house. I believe that every living thing wants its life as much as I want mine, and that they woke up being what they are just like I did, but i do draw the line at some things.
LikeLiked by 2 people
i didn’t even know we had cockroaches in colorado until i moved into the building i’m in now. this place is horrible, but its what i can afford at the moment. in don’t see many in my apartment, but when i do, i don’t just kill them, i spray (living things or not, i’ve learned to hate cockroaches) i learned that spiders eat cockroaches, so i never kill or remove spiders, they have earned their keep =)
LikeLiked by 1 person