(based on Lydia Davis’ short story ‘The Mouse’)

A trap for a rat
Set in the day
Clamps in the night.

Come morning we see
It lives, half-living
Half-breathing, half-dead.

Bring a hammer
Down to its face.
A gift of tranquility.

Too afraid,
So throw it out
Instead.

The mouse
Now in the cold
Stuck in a trap.