..........


the mouse lay next to the bundt cake
his chin on the saw knife, needless teeth
his rear torn by cat and brambles
panting as almost everything pants
or seems to
he didn't sniff for a crumb
it was difficult to tell how many holes
were in his side, his groin,
strange mouse parts misplaced
I pushed him with one foam plate
onto another
took him out to the best leaf-laden place
I could find in the warm shade
there is a light that cannot enter
because I am conscious
of all the saccharine material
that has come before