Poems
Poems of Antiquity
Short stories
Nano Novel
Artography*
Home
* -- denotes soonish
When I get home from work
I pick my cat up and hold her
Upside down as she purrs
She hates to be held
But she can't help but be happy that I'm finally
Home.
I pick her up and say
"Hi kitty,
You're the prettiest kitty in the world,
Do you know that?"
And she answers with a purr.
But, eventually, even after I tell her
That I am going to hold her upside down forever
She wants down.
The reality of life floods back
After the initial wave of happiness;
She hasn't eaten all day after all and is hungry
And I need to get out of my work clothes
And besides, it smells like cat litter in my apartment
Someone should light some incense
And that someone is probably me.
And I'm hungry, too. I haven't eaten since lunch.
There's the book on the counter I told myself to bring with me to lunch.
Oops.
And there's the credit card bill, still unpaid.
I should buy some stamps.
Somewhere in there my beautiful kitty gets forgotten, but
At least there's always tomorrow
When I can come home to her
Hold her upside down and kiss her ear
(The only time she lets me kiss her at all)
And forget that the bills are due
The rent is late
The few sparse dishes need washing
My job doesn't pay me nearly enough
I never graduated college
Shrug everything away and just listen to a quiet purr
Her belly like a seashell to me
No,
Like the opposite of an alarm clock
That hisses and buzzes me out of reverie
Her purr is soft against my nose
She smells so catly
And my mind ships itself off for a few, brief,
Titanic minutes.
Now she meows and sneezes: I need to vacuum.
And don't I owe my friend Jeff a letter?
I do.
Perhaps she'll sit by my leg as I type it.