Peanut on My Shoulder!

The hairless rats were wicked cool. V is unwilling (understandably) to let them go, and my rat-hating husband doesn't want them permanently. We have settled upon the happy solution of "ratty-sitting." I get to take the wee dearies when needed by V, and the hubby doesn't have to commit to a rodent in a long-term way. I was mentioning to a friend today that all this happy "raticity" stems back to Niccolo, my poor deceased rat friend who inspired the blog. I needed to honor him again... I was aiming for a haiku, but needed more lines. Then I read about the tanka (five lines-- the first and third having five syllables and the rest having seven). Here is my tanka to Niccolo. I must warn my gentle reader(s) that having read a bunch of research papers, my "poetry" might suck more than usual.

"Thanka Tanka"
Nic, you changed my life.
You brought rat poems alive.
Your life here, though brief
Moved my own life in my grief...
I've made friends tho' you are gone.
Hairless rats et al. are sung.

(Tracinator----2010, original)