AucklandPoetry.com presents Poet Resident JAN OSKAR HANSEN on http://OSKAR.AUCKLANDPOETRY.COM

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

when house ants sleep

When A House Ant Sleeps.

 

Testing, testing a strange dog has entered the village,

our dogs are barking just as my computer asks:

What is this?” Maria has two small dogs, calls asks

me to chase the big dog; Why me? Do I look like hero?

Pick up stones, wave a stick, shout: “bad dog,” and in

Portuguese holler “Vai para casa! ” (Go home!)

The dog, it is big, ignores me I throw a stone and hit,

it yelps, runs off. I cannot sleep, perhaps it has been

abandoned by a cruel owner who thought the dog too

kind to go rabbit hunting. I’m a hero no else dared

confront the monster, I bask in their glory but I’m

a fraud, yet in the morning I strut through the village,

admiring glances from the women by the well; yeah,

it feels nice to be a hero, if the Gaza strip needs me

I’m ready, the people there throw stones at an enemy

armed with rockets and really need a hero like me on

their side.          

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