how to get rid of cockroaches 

sing to them so softly they cannot bear it.
tell them, "i too once found myself
so ravenous i crawled." in our apartment
there have always been roaches.
at first, a whole colony. late at night
on hands & knees fighting them.
heel to carapice. their lives turned into 
dandelion heads. scattered legs. 
a never ending scurrying. we all lived just
like them. the lobby door clanging open
& shut all through the night. 
morning where police tape wrapped the block
like a horror gift. crawling over one another.
all of our gentle body carried in our 
palms like poached pears. too much sweetness
& then not enough. an open window.
howling at the burrata moon. fresh & fragile.
music making a stomach of every room.
of course you could try the hard poison.
cans of raid & combat traps. dangerous & hurried. 
never fast enough. i thought, "devour & ghost." 
all the while the cockroaches moved
sewing each room in the buidling to the next.
their patterned necklaces. was i pendant?
a bead? the darkness where i wept 
& begged them all to leave. begged myself
to vacate bones. give me a cupboard empty
of all twitching. a home less like 
a show box. a place to live inside of
instead of a place to store your life
while you wait. the children who played
in the front yard. games of cops & robbers.
blue raspberry laughter. between 
the floor boards. i got down & whispered,
"leave while you can." i read online peppermint oil.
greased the throat of the apartment. 
smelled like fresh tongue. kissing behind 
the diner. also read that you could try garlic.
bought cloves & tucked them in the corners.
none of them worked. the cockroaches left
& returned on their own accord. 
i spoke sternly to them. one emptied heart
to another emptied heart, "give me my life."
holding the door open for the basement man
wheeling his cooler in from a long day of work.
he thanked me & we both saw a roach scurry 
across the hall from one room to another.