You told me once of a mouse
running over your foot,
frightening you with his otherness.
For an instant
his ground
was your body
and you towered over him.
When you killed him
it was not kind and quick,
something you had to look at.
Poison was your choice,
thirst till death,
agony in the hidden places.
John Del Peschio's work appears in the current issue of modern words. His poem "fifi the dangerous fag dog" opens the anthology Queer Dog, from Cleis Press, edited by Gerry Gomez Pearlberg. His contact information is available through the directory of writers at Poets & Writers.
