| Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump | ||
| by David Bottoms | ||
Loaded on beer and whiskey, we ride to the dump in carloads to turn our headlights across the wasted field, freeze the startled eyes of rats against mounds of rubbish. Shot in the head, they jump only once, lie still like dead beer cans. Shot in the gut or rump, they writhe and try to burrow into garbage, hide in old truck tires, rusty oil drums, cardboard boxes scattered across the mounds, or else drag themselves on forelegs across our beams of light toward the darkness at the edge of the dump. It's the light they believe kills. We drink and load again, let them crawl | ||
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
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a typical day in Virginia
ReplyDelete"Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump"
ReplyDeleteby David Bottoms
"It's the light they believe kills."
I tried to discover the inner message in this poem, but I didn't quite succeed. However, I like the line I put up there ^^ because mice don't know what's happening, they think the light kills. It's like a hidden message because mice are always hiding behind something and they scurry away when they see light. They're guliable.
"It's the light they believe kills"
ReplyDeleteI like that line because when you hear "The light" you think of something holy and as if the light is your savior, not something that could kill you. So to me its sort of ironic that its the ight that they believe that kills. I feel as if this poem doesnt really have a deep meaning. This poem to me is mostly sight as i can picture everything that is going on.Espeically the part that says " freeze the startled eyes of rats against mounds of rubbish." I do not understand the reason for them to kill the rats. They just seem drunk and out of their mind to try to find something "fun" to do.
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ReplyDeleteFavorite Line: "It's the light they believe kills."
ReplyDeleteI read this poem like five times, and im trying to figure out the meaning to this pwom. I doubt David just wrote a poem about shooting rats, for no reason. When i got to the last line (second to last line) I started to think more in the rats perspective. Maybe they werent scared of getting shot, they just are afraid of light. Most rats dont let you get close enough to shoot them in the head. ugh, i dont know. This poem is confusing :(
Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump
ReplyDeleteby David Bottoms
"It's the light they believe kills"
Honestly, I cannot find much deep meaning inside of this poem, but it does not mean it's not good. It has really good images and sounds- even smells. I think it might just be trying to explain how naive the rats are. That could even translate to how humans are naive. I'm not going to try and strangle any meaning out of it and that's probably the deepest meaning I can grab from it.
I chose that line because it's the only real philosophical line in the whole poem. And it gives a view point from the rat as well when no other lines in the poem do.
"Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump"
ReplyDeleteBy:David Bottoms
"Shot in the head, they jump only once, lie still like dead beer cans."
I honetly don't understand the poem. So I can't really say weather or not I like the poem or not. There was a line that stuck out to me which was "Shot in the head, they jump only once, lie still like dead beer cans." I like that line beacuse I like the image. I really don't like this poem because i just feel like it's about garbage.
Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump
ReplyDelete"Or else drag themselves on forelegs across our beams of light"
"It's the light they believe kills."
This poem is interesting. I know there has to be a deeper meaning to it. The last 2 lines give off somewhat of a hint. But the reasoning behind killing the rats is still unclear. Maybe the rats represent the average citizens and the people killing them are soldiers.
favorite line
ReplyDelete"shot in the head , the jump only once,lie still like dead beer cans"
I like this line because its like when something dies ,before they fall the bullet hits them and its like a jump that they do and than they fall and die. The rats are people , liked like when people are exposed they are in a situation like this . For example , when someone tell something about you and your exposed its like a bullet shot them and everything they tried to hide is aired out.
Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump
ReplyDeleteby David Bottoms
"Shot in the head, they jump only once, lie still like dead beer cans."
This poem is about a bunch of sick people who's hobby is apparently to drive to nowhere land and shoot rats. It sounds fun :) but it's also sad :(. It makes me think like, hm I don't know how to explain it. Drunk people killing rats. Is it cause they're drunk? Does this mean they could hurt other people also? These innocent rats are getting killed for no reason kind of like an innocent human getting killed for no reason. Just because they don't like rats doesn't mean they have to shoot them. My boyfriend loves rats, lol. See, people see things differently. The line I picked, reminded me of when people shoot cans with bb guns. With just one shot, the can jumps up and falls to the ground. This is similar to the rats with just one shot to the head they jump up and fall to the ground. I guess I don't see the deeper meaning in this poem it just sounds like a bunch of people killing cute little rats.
Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump Feb16, 2012
ReplyDeleteby David Bottoms
"freeze the startled eyes of rats against mounds of rubbish."
This poem in my opinion, is just about men going about, not being very productive at the time. They are shooting rats. The rats have human like feelings, so would it really be okay to be killing them just because these people are drunk. This is why the rats were startled such as a human would be if a gun barrel was pointed at them. They shoot the rats for fun, they have no significance to them at all. The way things are put, shows a lot of how painful this is between the two.