Crocodile

The crocodile entered uninvited.
For days he had peered in the cellar windows,
Slapped his fat tail against the back door,
Skulked on the porch,
Filled the yard with stink. 

Then one night, the door left open a crack, he was in.
His chubby cherub legs, snout, tail in a flash
There on the Oriental rug.
Pebbled hide, serious overbite,
Smirking.

He moved into the corner by the chimney
Telling of prey swallowed whole along the inky Nile,
Wildebeest bellowing for her gangly child,
Addiction to power and ambush
And rot.

He crunched chicken bones under the table
Drank all the single malt until,
Leaving behind a few stains on the kitchen floor,
A trampled patch in the yard,
He grew bored and moved back to Florida.

Grace Massey