January 22, 2024

i feel like this new day of a new week
is a whole new moment of a brand new life
i don’t know what it is —
maybe it’s the lack of upcoming stressors,
maybe it’s getting used to this
twenty-twenty-four
as we have it,
maybe it’s feeling confident in friendships,
maybe it’s feeling confident in circus,
maybe it’s because
kip
is no longer feeling
vertigo-y
or migraine-y
and i feel like we might be
past
the worst of whatever this is,

but
so

this feels so new/
so fresh/
so daylight/daybreak/break me out of my rut

even with the cold
even with the chill
even with the snow and ice still there on the ground…

maybe it’s artistic inspiration
flowing all over me,
maybe it’s puppies and cats
and 8 hours of sleep
[even interrupted
i’m pretty sure it counts up to that],

maybe i just forgot
all the reasons i have
to be sad —

whatever it is

i’m feeling
almost
glad

January 5, 2024

our little genderqueer outside cat
grey tabby
names:
dustbowl
dusty
sharknado
comes nearly every day to eat the food we put out for all the cats
(some days twice)
getting used to me,
but still stays more than two arms-lengths away
at all times
at all times
but sometimes
will make eye contact
and walk past
as if i’m not the most frightening thing on the planet
and i think that’s
progress

December 16, 2023

gnome music
for after your words are done writing themselves
but you can’t come back to reality
quite
yet

[and there’s still a cat on your lap,
so there’s no way you could leave here
anyway]

October 9, 2023

a new cat
for Computer to interact with
a new feline take
on canine relationships
a larger than average
animal
who meows and purrs
and holds her own
and won’t put up with any of this puppy’s
hassles

(but will/should Computer
put up with Mia’s
shenanigans)

August 9, 2023

the cat
lying
comfortably on my lap

the puppy
playing
exuberantly with her toys

something happens

some kind of loud noise

now both animals are scared,
the cat has yeeted herself from my body,
and that is why i’m bleeding.

April 25, 2023

the cat
has a compulsion
every time there is a lap
with a soft fuzzy blanket atop

she must
must
must
crawl upon the space
created perfectly for a curled up cat
kneed the knees and thighs
just a few times
then perch
lie
purr
sometimes sleep

laps themselves
are only about 50% inviting
she could take or leave
bare legs/
legs blanketed in jeans/
pajamas/
dresses/skirts/harem pants
but the minute
that soft polyester cover is draped
here comes the hasslecat
a magnetic pull
a need
a compulsion
a necessity
to lie
on a blanketed lap

and i love her for it

March 20, 2023

the puppy playfully pleas
with the cat who can’t help but hiss back
and they paw at each other
and they stare and they struggle
and i hope one future day, they can be real friends

February 23, 2023

the cat is exploring
the downstairs
once more

the first time(s)
since the puppy arrived

she’s finally comfortable enough
to be in the same floor level
as the spastic young dog

but only because
the dog is
all crated up

what will happen with the puppy has free reign
of the downstairs
again?

February 18, 2023

the cat
has her zoomies
up and down the upstairs hall
back and forth
from bathroom to
under-the-bed

and we
(below the galloping stomps and stomping gallops)
ask

“is she having more zoomies than usual?”

“isn’t she a senior cat now?”

“is she maybe training to play with the puppy
once the puppy is all healed
and is allowed to play once more?”

i hope hope hope hope hope
the answer to that last question
is yes