OPERATION RATTUS BAGDADICUS



The rat (Rattus norvegicus)

Tears off bits of the girl’s buttocks

Ripened by the Bagdad heat

But hidden until now in the rubble

Of a collapsed wall.



R. norvegicus loves the smell

Of rotting flesh; of trousers

Soaked with piss; noses

And whiskers twitch excitedly

As they scurry to dinner.



R. norvegicus is being a rat.

R. norvegicus and its cousin

Rattus rattus , more of a vegetarian,

Exhibit their Buddha natures.

They have no love of empire.



Rattus rattus , aka the black rat,

craves destroyed granaries;

R. norvegicus prefers bandages

Stained with blood and shit

To the patriotic verbiage

Drooling from our President’s lips.



Even a rat will not sample that.



- Bill Witherup, June 12, 2008

This first appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of Secular Humanist Press.