You give us good bites from the table
Where Daddy will just pet our fur
Lil nuggets of chicken or salmon
Like perfectly made petits four

Your ballet nails scratch our backs
Our sleepy eyes close in delight
And then suddenly you sneeze us awake
So we have to shout Meowsundheit

This tiny poem will show you our love
More than any pretty flowers say
And so we're forever your cutey kittens
Happy Meower's Day

There is 2
One is Zoey
Black and fat
One is Battle
Grey and tall
Russian blue
Can be moody
loves to be petted
Short hair domestic
Eats alot
needs attention
but must have her space
Characters they are
So opposite
So alike
it's quite fun
having these two
they are my joy
they give me
alot to look forward to
I know they care
No matter what
These 2 cats
really are so special
we are family
I got them
and they got me to
I love these 2 cats
they are so cool
They know I love them
They are kinda spoiled
but deserve it
that much is true
These 2 cats
My 2 cats
© Jennifer L DeLong 🦏
4/2021

The garden cats aren’t mine
with my pss-pss-pss
and shuffle finger
I try to entice them
but mainly, warily
they ignore in the truest
feline tradition
to leave me and my allergies
wishing

This cat has a tongue that sticks out
From behind sharp teeth does it sprout
She hasn’t a care
How we all stare
We’ll never know what it’s about

heather is a feminine body
in a suede chair under charcoal ceilings

perry is wearing
sweaters to evening dinners

katie is a black light poster
in newspaper print

alex is an origami sailboat

spoon feed yourself some more cathleen,
the cats are waiting

My Relationship With You

I give
and you take
I give
and you take
I give
and you take.

This relationship,
built on what I do for you,
and you give little back,
a look, a word (in your fashion)
should I step out of line.

And still
and still,
I (like the ancient Egyptians),
obey you,
my feline masters.

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021

I listen to the endless cries of cats at night
Lonely and helpless,
Abandoned and forgotten
Living in a narrow, deserted alleyway.
I’ve left cans of food for them,
But that’s not what they want
They want love
To feel protected and sheltered
By the sheer warmth of compassion
Some may want to be reunited with their mothers
Or from their owners’.
No matter how many times these poor animals were left out in the cold
Or met with the scorching rays of the sun
We’ve neglected them to the point where
Anything better than what they have right now will suffice.
The next time I hear their cries
I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of guilt
Part of me wants to take every one of them out of their miserable lives
But some of these cats had lives
Some of us overlooked that
Walked right pass a cat that belonged to someone who didn’t want them anymore
Threw them out like the piles of trash
In the alleyway.

it was a cuckoo who flew the coup
took wing from his nest
off to push out eggs, like ***-pa
just another everyday coup d'etat

leopard leaping from his perch
pushing onward toward his prey
a small friend to no feline
trapped in a quick sand
left only to bay

you are these animals