Daisy – Caroline Thompson
An Ode to My Cat
Julia Burnette
Marbled blue eyes, no judgement
Of my smeared slash lipstick and sweaty straw hair.
What pulls me:
A swirling galaxy that welcomes me
As you patter, figure eights around my legs.
My worries melt with
Bird wing beats of your tiny finite heart.
Your liquid body, the weight
nooked into the nest of my arms,
And cadenced purr
That shimmies into my cells and soul.
In the heavy dark of the night,
Bad-breath love bites sting.
A forever scar on my nose.
I don’t love:
The unapologetically spewed supper;
Raw chicken livers wreaking havoc on my unfinished homework;
Sharp sour iron gruel masking the smell
Of my old gym shoes.
The droning, restless pleas outside my bedroom door
That keeps the veil of sleep away.
And yet…
What I wouldn’t give to keep you next to me.
Your static fur, soft sponge belly,
Soaking the salt of my sorrows.
And still…
You vibrate your purr, the quiet rhythmic rumble.
Paw in my hand, your head pressed to mine,
Holding my heartbreak.
