Since I'm guest blogging this week, I'll inaugurate what I hope will be a reign of poetic terror with my "inaugural poem." I saw the contest posted here, wrote the poem, THEN saw that New School Writing Program faculty couldn't enter. Oh, well; fair enough. So here it is, with a first line from Laura Cronk's BAP 2008 poem, "Entering," and the requisite words and stanzas . . .
INAUGURATION DAY MOUSE
-- for Laura
The mice must have these visions:
the founding fathers, their poor eyesight,
the littlest mus musculus escaping the trap
to ultimately become the most recognizable
American icon, after the flag.
Today I personally honor these smallest
of small world contributors, so full of integrity,
faith and hope, ever steadfast in the face
of so many bigger and stinkier heels.
Where the faithful and hopeful mouse goes,
there go I, squeaking Change to Power.
And soon, in some obscure corner,
in the middle of the night, I shall find
some savory, delicious and nutritious
crumb of something, and for once — just once —
it won't snap its breathtaking jaw on my neck.
-- Sharon Mesmer
