Dead Dove
February 1, 2023

beyond the window’s glass, the cat’s attention
fixed, unmoving, a downward gaze, brushed tail
resigned, unsigned contract by feline habituation
suggests three thumps and three scratches
laying those first two letters, need be followed
three more thumps at the door, pre-coffee
working city-proof theatre dead-bolts aside
cracking my nose when the wait-a-minute chain

waits a minute

close door, wander back into, kitchen clean face
everything still in threes, goddesses and pants
somehow circumscripted, his meowness still a-twitch
as now trouser-beladen, mechanical operations
improved by that foul automatic drip, achieve out
immediately back in, tired like fur, set down mug
having gainfully chugged the entire thing, grim
and finally, frustrated, meow at the door
come back for shirt, shoes, and not the shower

wait a minute

blurring infamy, not wishing to describe again
that the reason I’m in shorts digging under the rose bush
is that the windowsill captain popped the screen
losing some very important emerald ring
neither police nor HOA caring much for this peculiarity
and proper girded, this time fishing a dead dove
from below those self-same sweet-scented La Frances
flipping off his high rigged majesty and cussing
three minutes to struggle back out from thorned retreat
as the cops pull up, clearly familiar now, and disenchanted

* * *

#poem #poetry #writing #DeadDove #DoNotEat

I'm sure someone somewhere has done a dead dove fic where the CW is actually about a dead dove, but... I haven't found one, so I had to.

No picture.