Roof rats, roaches, fire and water —
not terrorists from the
Middle East.
Returning home from
dry climes
he turns on the water
waiting for
dried out gaskets to
give up the
ghost; he lies in bed and hears
water running
sporadically for a few seconds,
tormenting him from
the upstairs commode and knows
the flood is coming,
but remembers
Baldwin’s prophesy, God gave Noah
the rainbow sign —
no more water, fire next time.
He watches
the news and hears all about terror-
ists knocking on the
door, machetes in hand, but he
knows
in his heart of hearts
it’s roof rats, roaches, water and fire
all in due time.