BETRAYAL POEMS: BETRAYAL and LET DOWN

BETRAYAL
by Ryn Gargulinski

they may have thought
we would take them on a
bicycle ride a trek to the
circus a zip to the zoo but instead

we put them in an ice cube tray – each
bald baby mouse in its own
little cube – each parent, dismayed where

their babies went – atop lean cuisine
pizza beside smashed frozen peas – the
next morning we pulled

out the ice cube tray – found several cubes
empty as a number had crawled – to a lumpy
pinkie clump in one cube – a huddle that had hoped to

stay warm – one frozen mid-crawl on
the lip – his paw grasping at the
the cold freezer
sky.

Poem in honor of pinkies we wrenched away from pet mice to feed lizard Lazlo
___

LET DOWN
by Andrew Ulanowski

Betrayal is having
the person
you have fallen
in love with
ask you to review
their ad on Match.com