Meriones unguiculatus is a rodent belonging to subfamily Gerbillinae. They are the most widely known species of the Gerbil subfamily. . . . Mongolian gerbils are diurnal, but return to their burrows for the coldest and hottest parts of the day.
—www.wikipedia.org
Observe the quiet workings
inside the small lodge of the Gerbils.
Father Gerbil keeps a stack of daily reading
under his four-cornered matchbox ottoman; to you,
ephemeral fruits of fortune cookies broken,
discarded slips in Confucianisms, or Chinglish.
To father Gerbil, intellectual respite from a midday break
out of the spinach fields. Insightful news, daily stock tips.
He eases onto his pincushion armchair,
picks up a skinny sheet with his bubble-fleshed grip:
Front page headline,
Creating is the greatest proof of being alive.
The flipside,
Your lucky numbers are
5 14 18 36 44 12
Against the afternoon heat, he dozes off into a miniature slumber,
saddles up his champion horse as a giant,
rides out into the sun with his lucky numbers.
first appeared in 12 Ways: an anthology of the 2007 Intergenerational Writers Lab (Kearny Street Workshop Press 2007)