From Rattus: Investigation (poem)
Investigation
Think of a reasonable start
Think of property
Attribute
Value or character
Kernel, bare-bones truth
Pith, intrinsic worth, the molten core
The heart of gold, the nut
Diamond in the rough
The call, the mission, cause
Awakening
The deaf, the empty vessel, cabbage head
The beckoning dead, the comfortably seated
And you
Listening with caution for suggestions
Hoping to be excused
The two of them, our heroes, meandering
But following right angles
Street to street
Found in passing
Bursting garbage bags tall weeds
Shook, in a certain spot, welled noise
Of discontent and scanty portion
Squeaking tooth for claw and peevish
It came to them, these two, by scent
And sensibility, a body at the root of hubbub,
he or she, marketplace or mall
to vagabond nature
had been lost and wanted finding
abhorred to be lying in a vacuum
“Then we just report it”
Which they’d done
One liked to tell the story
One
Began to draw lines on a map
Taking this unsolved death as half
Her own unfinished soul
Investigation
Now Requesting Action
(2018, Stephanie Foster)