Roxanne's DNA

Roxanne is a wild cat
Green eyes stare at me defiantly
with a loud unspoken
NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Stay away from me
You have toenail clippers in your hand!
NOOOOOO!!!!!!
What do I care that you paid
$2000 plus for that French antique
farm table!
I see TREENice scratching post
thank you and
Meoooowww!!!

What do you expect
I'm a kitten
born of a feral mother
Saved from the incinerator
Bearing me and four orange tabby
Brothers
I am your bundle of joy
and exasperation
I am your kitty
and your own little monster
I am a furry coat
of spinning atoms
a thousand years of
cat Will-ful-ness
and as many ways
to say - uh-uh-no-no-noooo
And by the way
do NOT confuse my purring
For love and obedience
Or I will scratch your eyes out.
Batavia, Illinois 2010

Java and Toast

The peanut butter on my bread
Matches the color of the brick
Building outside my 9th floor
Chicago window and the apricot
Jam the color of the building next to it
And I gaze out as I munch and chew
Wondering who’s eating breakfast with me at this 8’ish hour and is
Anyone having eggs the color of my soft pajamas
Or if they will wait for a Starbucks
Latte filled to the brim with foamy milk that is the color of
My mood upon eating this sweet toast fluffy and light
And warmly wrapping itself around a hot brown soft woman java!

Chicago, IL, Winter, 2000