Bats in the Belfry

Alas, they are not vampire bats. Still they make an impression. This piece was written long ago but is being posted in honor of my friend Jess, who is wondering just what the bats in her attic are up to....

Echolocation

Small eyes fold into corners where rats hide

and birds nest.

The shy mammal wraps her glossy black cape

about her shoulders, licks out with a long

pink muscle and probes the private spaces

of an attic, a musty closet where

the other children’s shoes would lie

those long ago summers.

Her voice bounces off the abandoned eaves

and the opening where a green curtain

waves a balmy wind into chambers warm and thick

with peeling iridescent wallpaper.

She unfolds, careful not to crush her spring furs,

sweeps herself into the dusk

of a half-open hope chest and sleeps in the shadow

of an old box of his handkerchiefs.

(C) KL Pereira 

Do not repost without permission.