Three Little Kittens
In May the noisy students
go home for the summer
leaving piles of dressers,
lush stained couches,
and mountains of trash
sometimes actually
in the dumpsters
that sprout like green
caverns across the
academic lawns & alleys.
They also leave their
beloved cats and other
beasts to fend for
themselves
if they can or not.
Last year there was
a solid black three legged
cat of smallish build
but very fast for
missing one hind leg.
I think it must be good
to be fast if one
is a three legged cat!
The cars are faster,
the raccoons fierce,
and the hawks have
come into town
for easy meals!
So I do not know
what became
of that cat but this
May three black
kittens began
to visit our back yard
creeping though the
tall ferns
like panthers in
the Everglades.
When roused they
moved quickly with decided practice
back into the shaded ferns,
through the fence,
between our houses,
and off to the place
called home.
And very soon
there were only two
and they got bigger
but never very big
though they had
four legs and
were very fast
as they weaved
through the weeds
that have replaced last
year's flowers.
Some mornings they
would meow loudly
to each other or call
for their breakfast
complaining that this
situation was intolerable...
it is too early to get up...
where is my sister...
where is my mother?
In the heat of summer
one or the other would lay
out by the trailer
stretched out
on the rough bark mulch
like this was an exclusive sauna
and they were patiently
waiting their massage.
Walking out that way they
moved quickly with decided practice
back into the dark ferns,
through the fence,
between the houses,
and off to the place
called home.
And now it is
September and the
noisy students are back
but I have not
seen even that
one black kitten.
I will choose
to think that
that one black
kitten has become
a cat with better
things to do
than to lay out in
the September sun
on my rough bark mulch,
and when I approach
run back into the deep dark brown
tangled collapse of ferns,
through the fence,
between our houses
and off to the place
called home.
East Lansing
September 8, 2010
East Lansing Series
©2010 Three Little Kittens — Joseph W. Yarbrough
Reproduction prohibited without written permission.
go home for the summer
leaving piles of dressers,
lush stained couches,
and mountains of trash
sometimes actually
in the dumpsters
that sprout like green
caverns across the
academic lawns & alleys.
They also leave their
beloved cats and other
beasts to fend for
themselves
if they can or not.
Last year there was
a solid black three legged
cat of smallish build
but very fast for
missing one hind leg.
I think it must be good
to be fast if one
is a three legged cat!
The cars are faster,
the raccoons fierce,
and the hawks have
come into town
for easy meals!
So I do not know
what became
of that cat but this
May three black
kittens began
to visit our back yard
creeping though the
tall ferns
like panthers in
the Everglades.
When roused they
moved quickly with decided practice
back into the shaded ferns,
through the fence,
between our houses,
and off to the place
called home.
And very soon
there were only two
and they got bigger
but never very big
though they had
four legs and
were very fast
as they weaved
through the weeds
that have replaced last
year's flowers.
Some mornings they
would meow loudly
to each other or call
for their breakfast
complaining that this
situation was intolerable...
it is too early to get up...
where is my sister...
where is my mother?
In the heat of summer
one or the other would lay
out by the trailer
stretched out
on the rough bark mulch
like this was an exclusive sauna
and they were patiently
waiting their massage.
Walking out that way they
moved quickly with decided practice
back into the dark ferns,
through the fence,
between the houses,
and off to the place
called home.
And now it is
September and the
noisy students are back
but I have not
seen even that
one black kitten.
I will choose
to think that
that one black
kitten has become
a cat with better
things to do
than to lay out in
the September sun
on my rough bark mulch,
and when I approach
run back into the deep dark brown
tangled collapse of ferns,
through the fence,
between our houses
and off to the place
called home.
East Lansing
September 8, 2010
East Lansing Series
©2010 Three Little Kittens — Joseph W. Yarbrough
Reproduction prohibited without written permission.