for Flick, Mus musculus
By Alvin Pang
d. 9.8.2023
Rightsized for the mi
lieu, sensorily super
human (and who’s to
say how else). Leapt lengths
in single bounds, traversing
topside with trapeze
ease, proven monarch
of the wheel, of feist and crumb
heist, crimsoneyed ken.
Came when called only
if feltlikeitish, although
life being life a fair
share of thwarts, tumbles.
In a situationship
with wander. Mounted
a trimmed bonsai once,
made claim as a storm does, pre
positionally.
Tabletop roleplayed
(Warrior/Rogue multiclassing
STR/DEX minmaxer).
Signed many a should
erride with haymusk. Stained hearts,
as it turned out. But,
weightpulling neatmate,
fed ferociously on death,
until, never prey,
found stop, midsquirm, lodged
in the liminality
of hide and seek. Caught
breath, swallowed, swallowed
too much. Muscled into new
certainty. Leaving
wordbound overgrowns
to beg questions. To bury.
To grieve. To teeter.
Copyright Credit: Alvin Pang, "for Flick, Mus musculus" from The Uncollected Animals: Poems for Our Nonhuman Kin, A Global Anthology. Copyright © by Alvin Pang. Reprinted by permission of Turtle Point Press.
Source: The Uncollected Animals: Poems for Our Nonhuman Kin, A Global Anthology. (Turtle Point Press, 2025)