I'M IN LOVE WITH A COCKROACH

I've moved to a new flat in Cairo. I thought I'd left the cockroaches behind in my last kitchen. But they're following me. I'm as clean as can be, dont leave food lying around, dont like spraying, but sometimes it's the only way. I hate killing them. They have as much a right to life as me.... in a fit of peeve I wrote this poem. 



I'm in love with a cockroach
He’s really very cute
He hangs out in my cupboard
With the honey and the fruit.

My boyfriend doesn’t like him
He says he has to go
He thinks he’s got intentions
But I just tell him 'No!'

We’re really just the best of friends
He's only being flirty.
He waves his legs and wags his bum
My boyfriend says he’s dirty.

I like the way he rushes out
Each time I want to cook
I don’t mind him helping me,
But he just wants to look.

My boyfriend says he’s creepy,
'It’s him or me. You choose.
It’s a threesome that he’s after.
Someone’s got to lose.'

I cried for days, then bought a spray
I said, 'It’s hard, I know,
We’ve had some fun
But now it's time to go.'

He fixed me with an orange eye
And scuttled to the sink.
I fired the spray, he waved his legs.
I found it hard to think.

The boyfriend came to see him
And flicked him down the drain.
'Thank god that it’s all over.
We wont see him again.'

But there he was that evening.
He said we had to talk.
I told him we were finished
And stabbed him with my fork

                  More of my poems in http://www.warscapes.com/poetry/not-revolution, 
http:// www.rowayat.com (new Egyptin literary magazine in print), http://www.chanticleer-press.com