Fragments on the Death of a Muskrat

A POEM

By David N. Beauregard, O.M.V. | November 1983

Ballpeened by a bumper,

Struck down by steel,

Bowled hard over pavement,

Done in with a wheel.

O cinders, O gators, O gadabout hens,

O children with maces and pigs in clean pens,

Please arrest, I do pray you,

Your primordial urge

To pause in sad convocation

And sing this rat’s dirge.

Faith

Trellised clouds upwards towards

earth’s moon

Set within a night-dome

of…

Thaws

Around our March balcony tonight
Fog closes its slight hand — illusive blue —

To Angela, Who Is Afraid of Clowns

Clowns are grandfathers

painted with strokes of laughter

who kiss lollipops

but never lick them.

…