alley cats
there is a small square of light
flickering somewhere far away
in the distance
but the shadows on the wall
seem to suck in light
every cell in my body screams
i am somewhere far away
and yet my body remains
a hand sneaks its way
across my waist
a rattlesnake looking for prey
hello he says
and the sound of that
greeting is enough
to make me want to
run to the window and
jump
no, fly
i see my body
fall three stories
and slam into trash cans
broken outside
like it is inside
maybe the alley cats would
twist its way across my waist
or curl around my body,
whiskers whispering down
my exposed skin, a fish
out of water.
maybe people would emerge
from their houses in the morning
to stare at this broken figure
who tried to fly but
couldn't
the window is too far
because he gets to me first.
there seems to be hands
everywhere
and oxygen nowhere
there is no sound but his
hungry breathing
no feeling but
his hot, sweaty body
a rattlesnake,
squeezing every last
bit of
me
out
finally
when he is gone
I curl up in a ball
and dream of flying
and alley cats
YOU ARE READING
the soft
Poetrythey say to be soft is to be powerful but it gets harder to believe that every passing day
