ST. IGNATZ OF THE RATS
For Michael Moore of those misty-Sixty army days who told me how St. Ignatz saved the NYC sewer rats from the alligators,
for Al Houseworth who showed me the storm drains of Santa Fe, and for Julie Joyce who accompanied me on a mission that started in the storm drain and ended in the Cementerio de los Niños.
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(not Santa Fe)
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ST IGNATZ OF THE RATS
Twenty-first century wild-ness
doubles & triples back upon itself.
Thickets and brambles
like concertina wire
looped & looped again.
Cedar Sentinels
limbs and branches
all a-tangle
stop the penetration - at least for now.
Barred from nature
Frank takes to the city
takes to the solitude of storm drains.
Down a culvert
into the maw
Darkness and damp
Palpable
Suffocating
Frank can't see his hands
Converse high-tops soaked
Pant-legs wet & clinging.
Now's the time
for that Dollar-Store pen-light
to pen-through
the damp and chatter
to reveal -
Rats
straight out of Hamlin
a dozen-abreast
dropping scat
like an asphalt re-pave
rats
stretching further than Frank's weak beam
lets him see
snarled & squirming
up each other's butts
over each other's backs
mindlessly jockeying
for position
Mumbai traffic jam
rats.
Frank kicks a dropout
that's stopped to feed
skirts a dirty-dozen fucking like Saturday night in rat-town.
It's always Saturday night in rat-town.
Just above
nestled in a nook
Mother Raven
taking a break
from the turning world
looks on with seen-it-all eyes
and a seen-it-all attitude.
Though they frequent
the same establishments
Ma Raven hates rats
for their secretive ways.
Procession slows
fans out
flanks a scene
illuminated from a street-lit
storm grate.
Frank kills his pen-light
holds his breath
exhales real slow
jaw-dropping.
Looks like
Saturday night
in rat-town
has turned into
Solemn High
Sunday
in Rat-Rome.
Sewer rat
Wharf rat
Ground rat
Tree rat
Field rat
Water rat
acolytes
up on their hind legs
Cassocks
rag and tatterered
black and stained
scarlet skull caps
puffing ce-gars and cigarettes
blowing smoke around over up to
There-He-Sits
on a white-metal lawn chair rocker
up on cinder blocks
SAINT IGNATZ
HIMSELF
naked
fat and pasty pale
rat-faced
Saint Ignatz
smile beaming
incisors clicking
so much joy in rat-town
Alleluia…Alleluia
blue smoke swirls
rising
up into light
furry chatter
loud louder
Frank
doubles over
gasping
dry-heaves
diverts attention
and
Ignatz
Patron Saint of Rats
pins his pink eyes on Frankie
stands on ancient legs
and points
his pale and palsied
index finger…
To be Continued
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