Seen in Passing

Leaving the place where a bad cop

hurt all the good cops,

where a black man died calling out for his mother,

wandering deep in sadness, I find

almost hidden,

the small head of a mouse resting

against the curve of a chicken bone

long rotting by a dumpster.

Tiny mouse with eyes open

still in startled ending

in this hopeless place of things discarded,

tiny mouse how is it now I cry?

^{(Originally published in the Nemadji Review)}