Helena Nelson
After the Ninth
I dreamed I was the cat next door come back from the dead.
That paving slab could not keep me down. I clawed
my way through earth and solid stone and flew
at the window. They were inside - the foolish woman
half-weeping, my sleek sister curled asleep
on the man’s knee. I freaked. The night fractured
in great cracks. They did not admit me. They,
who had shut me in every night, watched the TV.
Enraged, I went to the death car, slivered in
and left a turd on the driver’s seat, freshly
mildewed; on the headlight glass I smeared new blood.
I shall avenge myself while my silver sibling
wastes her lives. I’ll pounce on feeble dreams
as they flutter like bats. I’ll crush them, devour them whole.
Page(s) 97
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