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Open Poetry #42
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Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
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since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia

0 posted 2008-02-08 09:50 AM



Blame it on bamboo blossoms.

A 50 year cycle repeats itself
in the Chittagong Hills, Bangladesh,
as rats are overpowering
the people.
Ironically,
this is the Chinese
Year of the Rat,
and coincides with an overabundance
of rats in Bangladesh,
where the prolific flowering bamboo
has nourished them so well
the rats will breed eight litters
instead of the usual four this year.

Time to build a better trap
or hire a Pied Piper?

© Copyright 2008 Kathleen Kacy Stafford - All Rights Reserved
Margherita
Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236
Eternity
1 posted 2008-02-08 12:04 PM


Having seen recently the fantastic Walt Disney movie "Ratatouille" starring rats, I have some difficulty in changing the perception ... but it is no doubt frightening to be outnumbered by rats!! They say also in Rome this has happened!

Balance in all things is of greatest importance I would say, but men do not seem specialized in reaching this ideal state of things.

Thank you for this dear Kacy!

love
Margherita

Bobby Jordan
Member
since 2007-08-13
Posts 491
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2 posted 2008-02-08 12:20 PM


Midnitesun,

Rats are no good at all.  One bit my sister-in-law when she was six years old while she slept--blood all over the place.  My wife killed the damned thing.

I hate rats.

Bobby

Earth Angel
Member Empyrean
since 2002-08-27
Posts 40215
Realms of Light
3 posted 2008-02-08 12:20 PM


With propagation results such as that from ingesting the "prolific flowering bamboo" ~ may it be banned for human consumption! lol


Linda

effjayel
Senior Member
since 2007-09-30
Posts 1474
At the Crossroads of Infinity
4 posted 2008-02-08 12:29 PM


Perhaps they should fill the stems of the plants with rice wine and the rats would get bamboozled???
TomMark
Member Elite
since 2007-07-27
Posts 2133
LA,CA
5 posted 2008-02-08 01:40 PM


Love this one, my dear lady!

Have a nice day and a very good weekend!!!

Artic Wind
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 8080
Realm of Supernatural
6 posted 2008-02-08 04:27 PM


lol the name is a tongue twister a bit

ARCTIC WIND

Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
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since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
7 posted 2008-02-08 04:46 PM


Sorry 'bout the tongue twisting, Arctic Wind.

secondhanddreampoet
Member Ascendant
since 2006-11-07
Posts 6394
a 'Universalist' !
8 posted 2008-02-08 05:22 PM


blatant bamboo blossom blame blankets Bangladesh?!...
now there is a good old fashioned newspaper headline if
I ever saw one?!


Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
9 posted 2008-02-08 09:32 PM


I'm sure rats must have been put here for a reason but I don't think we need so many of them. You write beautifully about anything and everything Kacy.
                            Ida

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA
10 posted 2008-02-10 03:52 PM


Interesting the fifty year cycle of bamboo and the flowering...I recently heard that due to the scare of birdflu, the citizens in Vietnam were increasingly turning to eating rats, and consider them quite tasty...not sure if the citizens of Bandladesh favor this practice...but if they do seems like they will have no lack of this delicacy...James
DennisTheMenace
Member
since 2005-09-04
Posts 240

11 posted 2008-02-10 04:21 PM


"Rats!" says Charlie Brown
He says it in flustration.  The abundance of rats there surely has a purpose and perhaps it was to feed the people, but it might be that those people don't eat rats.  A waste of food source?  I'm sure the snakes population will grow for it, for they have no religous beliefs to stop their feast.

Your words provoke thoughts

Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
12 posted 2008-02-10 05:45 PM


Good points, James and Dennis. One being's rat problem is another's epicurean delight, or at least, survival fare?
secondhanddreampoet
Member Ascendant
since 2006-11-07
Posts 6394
a 'Universalist' !
13 posted 2008-02-12 08:44 PM


RATS!...this 'write' is 'disappearing' down the "P.I.P.-land" queue!
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