“1996 is the Year of the Rat” by Aris Keshav
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “1996 is the Year of the Rat” by Aris Keshav.
1996 is the Year of the Rat
By Aris Keshav
So much wiggling where we shouldnโt.
Somebodyโs whole body slipping into a hole
by the stairs. I stare, canโt stop it, canโt stop
starting conversations with stories of rats.
Big ones. Hairy. A fairy and I had drinks
on Tuesday. I never saw him again.
โRats are my emotional support,โ I told him.
โI always feel pure by comparison. Theyโre brown
as snow, brave as traffic, bold as the worldโs most
terrible television. Theyโre plot twists in the
twenty-eighth season. Alive and keen to
stay that way. I wouldnโt date a ratโฆ but
I dated a woman who called me one!โ
I wouldnโt date a rat, but I dated a woman
who called me one. She wore expensive
outfits: cashmere, stability. Her vision of
transness was a celebration. I hadnโt
seen a rainbow in yearsโฆ I wanted to.
She loved me, left me, felt pure in comparison.
Preferred cis company to trauma bonding,
and untied herself. I never saw her again.
Rats creep in groups. We call it community.
Prone in urban legend to knot tails with friends.
I stay with them, canโt stop it, canโt stop
listening to stories of whoโs hurt whom.
I love you, Iโll never leave you. I want to.
Copyright ยฉ Aris Keshav
Previously published in Ahoy Literary.
Aris Keshav teaches English to young adults in Tio’tia:ke/Mooniyang/Montrรฉal. His poetry appears in The New Quarterly, The Malahat Review, CV2, The Dalhousie Review (forthcoming), and two chapbooks, and was nominated for the Best New Poets 2026 anthology.
Subscribe to Poetry Pause, or support Poetry Pause with a donation today!