Served

i was at the stove/potatoes onions and garlic dancing for me/and the radio was playing/my cat moved as he pleased/from the kitchen to the back stairs/he didn't fancy the menu that night/and it was a chance to jump bail/on the four walls/on the same old same old/so i stirred the veggies/and he prowled the back porch/three stairflights and one deadbolt/to contain him/the radio rang out the news/i snarled back and the radio continued/a touch more olive oil/and the mayor expressed disappointment/the markets were steady/yankees beat the sox/and the same old same old/when behind me he howled/i heard his cry and spun around/

i spun to the white-hot stab of guilt that ever made me allow him out/please god/please/and in an instant/i could exhale/

as he looked up through a half-inch thick cobweb/strung from one ear/over his nose/and into his whiskers/like a drunken matador/thank god

i swept them away/and he turned right back around/and returned to the ring

dumb fuck

with my potatoes and
radio dinner companion
i was.