First published in Mad Hatters’ Review, #12, 2011. Copyright 2011 by Tetman Callis.
it gets darker and i hold my plastic frog in my hand and i pull the thumbtack out of my frog and i push the thumbtack into my frog and my talking french cat sits next to me in my chair and it doesn’t say a word my cat doesn’t and people
they come into my house but i didn’t
i didn’t invite them i
they look at my things and they take my things before they leave but i don’t
i don’t
i don’t let them they can’t take my chair and my frog and my talking french cat
they can’t
i won’t
•
i always put the matches and the lighter in the cupboard before i go to work always always always because what if someone broke in and wanted to steal
they wanted to steal all the stuff i don’t have anymore
i don’t have it
all that
it’s gone so they get mad and they set my house on fire they set it on fire i’d come home from work and there would be fire trucks and police cars and people all looking and saying what a shame the man’s house got
it got burned down there goes his talking french cat and his chair and his frog
did you see what he did to that frog
did
•
i keep
my gates i keep them locked now so
they’re locked and so people can’t even get into my yard i put
late at night i went out and i put razor wire on the fence i nailed it
the firemen would have to stand in the street and spray their hoses from there if the robbers broke in and set my house on fire the police
the police would keep the people back across the street sorry folks there’s nothing to see here there’s
•
i have a club
it’s a club that’s a branch from a tree and i wrapped
razor i wrapped
i wrapped razor wire on
really it’s a branch in the bedroom corner there’s a knife under the bed just in case and the windows are shut
they’re shut
i keep them
and the doors are locked i won’t be taken
no one will take me
i nail razor wire to my window frames on the inside
inside my house with my cat and my frog i check the pilot lights every
all of the pilots lights i check them every day
there won’t
there won’t be any accidents no sir
•
i come home from
home from work and the windows
they’re
the windows
the fences are torn down the razor
someone cut my razor wire
cut it all to shreds the pilot lights
the lights are all blown out the matches and the lighter
they’re gone
they’re
from the cupboard where i know i put them i checked three times
three times three times always
i count i always count
•
it gets darker and
it gets
it’s night
the wind blows
hard it blows hard
i go out
out to my back yard where i scream as loud
as loud
as loud i scream i want
i scream and wrap myself in razor wire and fall to sleep on the ground and dream my talking
my talking french cat
i dream my cat has found
it gets darker
my cat has found