It wasn’t until humans
Turned from foraging to farming
That the rodent population really
Exploded. Grain for the taking,
You know. The rats turned
From foraging to pillaging. Then we
Invented warfare and history
And writing, too, to keep
Track of the vessels of wheat
And rye, our dead and our victories.
Where the Accident Begins
Jeff Mock
Jeff Mock is the author of Ruthless (Three Candles Press, 2010). His poems appear in American Poetry Review, the Atlantic Monthly, the Georgia Review, the Iowa Review, New England Review, the North American Review, Shenandoah, the Southern Review, and elsewhere. He teaches in the MFA program at Southern Connecticut State University.