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Letters to the Bat

The Story of Us

by Rebecca Lu Kiernan


I tried to convince a bat he was a man.
I jammed his wings into pant-legs of blue jeans.
He flopped around and fell off the couch.
He panicked and twirled in circles
And made it difficult to free him.

I cooked spaghetti and insisted he eat it.
Have you ever seen bat diarrhea?
It is violet and endless
And you can never fully remove
The stench and the stain.

I told him he was worthy of love
But he was hanging upside down
From the ceiling fan
Blood-intoxicated, asleep.

The saddest thing was watching him
Attempt to operate
The Lazy Boy recliner,
Pushing the lever
And popping up fast
Trying to stretch open the apparatus.
He flew back and forth
Until he passed out.

He cried so hard when I told him
I finally could see
A bat is a bat is a bat
And it was ridiculous of me
To coax him into the
Light
And whisper, Darling.

He flew back into the abyss,
Somewhat cocky
At having been right all along,
But the colony does not trust him anymore,
And he can never fit into
Either of his old worlds.

The house will never sell...
The stench and the stain.
Who could live so haunted?
Even we could not survive
The Story of Us.


Copyright © 2012 by Rebecca Lu Kiernan


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