NaPM April 26 2015

[milo]

The Culling


I sowed two bean seeds in one pot
just like the package said
and when both grew
I re-read the part that said to “thin” them
which means to pluck the weakest
plant and throw it out.
 
But how could I?
When I have always shown compassion
for the weak
and who’s  to say that stronger plants
grow better tasting beans.
 
Still, to kill the strong
whose only crime
was to do his best
seemed perverse
 
and even God
when left to choose
between Abel and Cain
let them sort it out themselves.
 
As weeks went by
they grew closer and stronger,
those two incidental brothers
until they twined together
inseparably
and choked each other
to death.

I know just what you mean, I never thin them enough, farmers are tougher than I am.

What's left for the reader to do but shoot himself... oh, wait, there's kittens to drown.

It seemed the right thing to do at first - 
so many hungry kittens in the world
without a home, stretching 
and rolling on their backs in the hot sun


did I just leave the door open 
and let them come in or did I venture
out and rub their warm bellies 
or offer them the last slice
of balogna from the package?

The house is not overly large -
perhaps just the right size 
for a single man and a cat
to keep him company
but much too small for the hundreds

lounging on the counters
and scratching the newel posts
into some new sculpture
that only cats can understand.

A man may never own a cat
 but he can own a house
with a quick running stream in the back yard
and a dozen burlap sacks
and a stack of bricks.