Farmers and Pests | Teen Ink

Farmers and Pests

January 20, 2011
By MelissaCaccamo SILVER, Burlington, Other
MelissaCaccamo SILVER, Burlington, Other
7 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Pigeons in the eaves troughs
Put a bullet through their head

Bunnies in the garden
Bury them out back

Rats in the grain room
Ready the poison

Mice burrowed into the hay
Moulded to death

Wild burrows stealing the cattle’s grass
Would a blank scare them off?

There ain’t enough for extra mouths
Either the pests eat or we eat
A younger me would choose the pests
Just out of common humility
But now, my dinner beckons.

The author's comments:
This poem is inspired by the works of Seamus Heaney.

In this poem I explored the change of mind between an innocent child and a farmer who must provide for his family, and who cannot spare any of his resources in compassion for animals who he's come to know as pests.

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