Diana Darby ** "I V" ** Intravenous

Crawling In The Dark

Last night there was a scratching in the attic.
A rap rap rapping.
A gentle gnawing.
Some animal made its way in
out of the cold
and into the pink insulation of my home.
How it happened,
I don’t know.
Lately it seems things keep happening.
One snafu after another.
One unexpected bill.
One unexpected break.
One unexpected animal
crawling around in the dark
looking for something on the inside
it can’t find anywhere else.
I for one, have had it.
I can’t seem to plug the holes quick enough.
Vegas.
Florida.
Nashville.
It is all one giant hole for me to fall into.
Condos
and deposits
and beds on metal frames.
Full size and mid-size
and vanishing seats on planes.
And no matter what I do
Someone will be unhappy.
I have turned into part travel agent,
attorney,
exterminator
and plumber.
When I transformed into this amalgamation
of nothing I ever wanted to be
is a mystery.
But here I am,
walking around with my butt crack showing
and nothing to show for it.
The worst part is,
no one cares how many people I’ve written
or called on
trying to make the perfect vacation happen.
No one but me
is capable of
undoing a ten-year–old crime.
And I have listened to recording after recording
trying to make a deal with the Strip.
Tonight I have on my exterminator’s cap and am running to Home Depot
to buy some high pitched device to drive the animal out of my attic.
I only wish I could drive
the animal out of my brain.