Under the nervous street light
The cat crosses over stealthily
Pausing at the edge
Of the darker side.
One eye flashes
And it’s gone
Into the margins.
Black impregnates black
The seed of a dream
Behind the slumbering houses.
I flutter through empty space
A little man with little wings
And a mouse’s tail.
Suddenly I feel a knife
In the back of my neck.
I reel, collapse, plummet
Drowning within the sound
Of Purring.
***
Pete Howard works as an English teacher, a musician, a writer, and a house painter from the Colorado Springs area.
