This Is Not My Story
       

cereal boxes in the kitchen

cupboard nibbled through
the sudden appearance of

droppings, a mouse in
the house, her lover says
it has a very tiny heart,

you need only chase
it until it tires; he knows
the hearts of small creatures

having chased down a few
chickens in his youth, accustomed
to how birds wear out

easily — the human heart is
a wholly different animal,
we must sense when to give in

before the other gives up

Copyright © 2010 Shin Yu Pai All rights reserved
from Adamantine
White Pine Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission