Poems by Ruben Mita

Incident Report

Ruben Mita

Published on
page 30 of Tarot #6
(June 2023)

the rat took our tomatoes

the rain fell
on the Cook Strait,
crying, crying, crying

big rat,
soft and important

ate our tomatoes
looking at the attractive stained glass window

doesn’t know about proteins
doesn’t even have a name

heavy-minded, the flies
go unmasked around the open room

along the rat’s fur,
water filtered through soil
trickled down to soil

the rat circled his topic
his words gave nothing away

humus, phosphor, Antarctic rain
gather up, down, up

he stole our tomatoes
and I did not know what he meant

The Gap in the Window

Ruben Mita

Published on
page 31 of Tarot #6
(June 2023)

“Crack the window” she said and he did and the gap in the window was a gap,
not a crack, and the gap was the desert between the divided worlds
of the lichen and spiders and borer of the great window.
The air that passed in good terms through the gap in the window
was good air and it made the room shiver with pleasure,
it raised goosebumps on the grey walls and this was the song
of the gap in the window, the song that chilled
her bare elbow and caused her to say, “Close the window, will you?”
He brought down the top of the window and the gap in the window
screamed and screamed every inch of the way and he lay down on the sofa-bed
and she took the earmuffs down from a hook on the wall and
with a steely jaw finished the job.