Lobster

Gerard de Nerval, Parisian poet and author, had a pet
lobster which he led through the streets of Paris on a leash.
Ripley's Believe It or Not!

It was eighteen fifty.
Clac-Clac was his name,
a pale salmon color, and dusty
from crossing the city
the way the city was then.

Every night his master
ate him and went for another,
whom he named Clac-Clac again.

"Even a lobster with his carapace
can't stand more than one turn
around this stinking circus,"
Nerval said with bitterness,

rigging himself and his lobster
up for today's appearance.

Kay Ryan
The Jam Jar Lifeboat & Other Novelties Exposed
Red Berry Editions

This poem was retired recently from Poetry Daily Archive.