KILL RATIO

by Patrick Theron Erickson

A certain kind of horse
is home to a livery stable

when a livery stable
without a horse
is no home at all

A livery stable
that is no home
to a horse

is yet a haven
for rodents

And the woodland owl
knows this

and waits

And we conclude
The owl is wise

because he doesn’t jump the gun
moving in for the kill

whittling away
the rat snake’s rations

raising the kill ratio
by one

one and done.

VACANCY

With inborn dexterity

he came to occupy
and then embody

the disparity between
humble beginnings
and lifetime achievement

without recourse
to a lifetime achievement award
and without rancor

And he never waffled

For the life of me
I cannot say
I do not wish him well
and Godspeed

and fain
would I not
gladly
share his lot

or at least
trade occupations
and inhabit new occupancies.

SLEAZY

A kiss

unless it leads
to a strip search
or a kiss off

is nothing
to write home about

except that you do

and your Facebook friends
misconstrue the kiss
for a kiss off

and the strip search
for a striptease

your home
away from home

So home
is no longer
where the heart is

no, not even
on your homepage.

BIO

Patrick Theron Erickson, a resident of Garland, Texas, a Tree City, just south of Duck Creek, is a retired parish pastor put out to pasture himself. Besides a chapbook, Better Late Than Never (The Orchard Street Press, 2022), his work has appeared in the anthology, SHARING THIS DELICATE BREAD: Selections from Sheila-Na-Gig online 2016-2021, in Grey Sparrow Journal, Tipton Poetry Journal, and Sheila-Na-Gig online, among other publications.