Nice, returning to this
desecrated kitchen
where our observant cat -
high priest and haruspex -
has scattered the entrails
of a careless blackbird.

The head, almost detached,
lolls knowingly above
a broken tracery
of ribs and wings. The floor
is slippery with things
that should not be revealed.

Fat with this dark knowledge,
our cat sits like Satan
at the window, looking
out into the garden,
planning her next ambush
beneath her favourite tree.

having had headless mice 
dropped at my feet
and a baby cardinal
adorning the steps
I relate to this piece~
shudder for the loss~
but still love my cats



Stella

David, this is vivid and fun, in its bloody way. In the last two lines, I would go more specific, show what specific innocent creature the cat is casually eyeing, under what tree. Tom

Soeme houghts on tightening the last stanza which sounds a bit lighter in tone than the rest of the poem. Maggie

Fat with this dark knowledge,
our cat sits at the window—
Satan—looking over the garden,
planning a next ambush beneath
a favoured tree.

First read and [if mine] I might change 'our cat' in L2 of end stanza to 'she' -- yet find this too good not to move up. 

ld

Stella, cats do choose such bad gifts, don't they? I'd like to add "but they mean well", but I'm not sure they do.

That's a pretty good idea about the last two lines, Tom, but I was trying to leave it less specific so as to leave the wider allusion open. Does that work, do you think?

Thanks for those suggested changes, Maggie. I'm not sure I agree with you, but I appreciate the thoughts.

And thank you very much for the pick, Lynn.

Cheers all

David

Love the cat as augur, David, and guess we shouldn't be too hard on them, considering how their fellow animals, their so-called masters and mistresses, have ravaged and pillaged the planet with unassuaged appetite. Great poem.

milner

Thanks, Milner. You are right, we are no kind of example to them.

Cheers

David

I think a more specific, "innocent" image lends itself to reader applying it metaphorically - demands it, in fact. Tom

sounds like a nice gift for the family, and the fact that did it all on her own is so proud and endearing!  david cats are a quirky, funny, and sometimes as they remind us, fierce animals which serve for great focal points.  gritty enough to squirm just a bit all the while remaining very every day in nature.  lawrence