Damian Ward Hey

Damian Ward Hey
has had poetry published in several places, including Poetry Pacific, Truck, and Cricket Online Review.  His work will appear in the upcoming anthology, Poets with Masks On.  He lives on Long Island and is a professor of literature and theory at Molloy College.

Mice

The mice were caught
in the glue traps
we had put down
in the utility room.
They’re, trapped, I said.
Alive, she said.
For now, I said.
We saved them, she said.
The mice, I said.
The residents, she said.
From the mice, I said.
They’re horrible, she said.
The residents, I said.
The mice, she said.
Oh, I said.
They carry diseases, she said.
Which ones, I said.
All of them, she said.
Such as, I said.
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Bubonic plague, Salmonellosis, Rat-Bite Fever, Leptospirosis, Lymphocytic choriomeningitis, Monkey Pox, Lassa Fever, OMSK Hemorrhagic Fever, Argentine hemorrhagic fever, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Sabiá-associated hemorrhagic fever, Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever, and Tularemia, she said.
Is that all, I said.
Among others, she said.
I see, I said.
They’re the ideal vehicle for spreading diseases, she said.
I think they’re kinda cute.  Big round eyes.  Cute little ears, little praying hands, I said.
The mice, she said.
The residents, I said.
I see, she said.
They’re trapped, too, I said.
Alive, she said.
For now, I said.