Mouse Trap

sleep will not come

easy, not with you

coiled up in the corner,

pistons ready to fire,

metal straining against metal,

every muscle tensed,

like a horse before

the bell. you sit

in the corner near the crack of the attic door.

that is the place where

we think the mice

come out at night.

no, sleep will not come

easy. i’m scared to think

of myself at last falling asleep

and then being yanked

awake by a deafening

snap.

Grady Trexler is a high school student in Richmond, Virginia.

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