“Don’t you hear that cat yowl? Someone’s shut her
In the closet. For God’s sake let her out.”
On the lake, motorboats whine and putter.
Whine and putter, steered without a rudder,
The motorboats carry men thin and stout.
“Don’t you hear that cat yowl? Someone’s shut her
In a cabinet.”
“How’d she,” you mutter,
“Get in that clutter, crying to get out?”
On the lake, motorboats whine and putter.
“Just eat your breakfast of toast and butter
Go find where that cat has got herself trapped.
Don’t you hear that cat yowl? Someone’s shut her
In a room.”
“You! When you closed the shutter.”
“Well, you go see what she’s wailing about.”
On the lake, motorboats whine and putter.
Put the knife down, stop thinking you’ll cut her.
Remember you promised to mend the grout.
“Don’t you hear that cat yowl? Someone’s shut her…”
Outside the motorboats whine and putter.
Published in Oops: A Poetry and Prose Anthology 2022