The White Footed Mouse

by Meg Rumsey-Lasersohn


I see the white footed mouse
At the foot of the fence
And I think this mouse is just as alone in the universe as I
She cannot truly know any perspective but her own
Just as I cannot
The same number of seconds elapse
In my day as in the day
Of the white footed mouse
I imagine her
Deep in her warren
Setting aside the desperate search for food
Is she thinking “is this all there is to existence?”
“the dirt, the seed, the sun, flight and sleep?”
Or does she think “I am but a single molecule in the vastness of space. The material I am made of is
indistinguishable from all other matter and yet I have been gifted
With this bright moment to make sense of it all
To eat the seed
And sleep in the warm den”


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Meg Rumsey-Lasersohn lives in Southern California with her beloved partner and animals. She writes poetry and grants for a legal aid non-profit, creates site-specific immersive theater with award-nominated company Die Cast, and reads a great deal of queer romance novels in her spare time. She is working on befriending the crows in the backyard.