Poem 462

An early one and almost the last poem I’ll take from my first folio … based on a real life pet drama I like the way the poem finds a different gear and meaning in the last six lines …

( I enjoy the internal rhymes chair/unaware sleeps/street defined/line leak/leap/sleep door/yours/claws … and the image of the household balanced on a whisker of a moment … )

Territory

New cat comes round the corner
of a chair 
                   pauses
as if to light a cigarette
wary insolent
sussing out the situation
unaware
the old cat sleeps
on the chair
a little fluffy from age
a long time
since she had to hit the street
for scraps and battle
she sleeps secure
her boundaries fought for and defined
up and down the section
four legs toe that line
her kingdom secure against everything
but treason
the inside leak
as new black cat
gathers for an exploratory leap
the old cat is silent in sleep
whole household waits on a whisker …

I was watching you
when her shadow fell through the door
you smelt something foreign
in a dream of what was yours
straightaway your eyes slit sideways
and across your pads sprang claws