Sweet William, Meet Marlene

Of the two cats in my life
thankfully neither are in my home.

My neighbor’s cat, Sweet William
embodies all that is wrong about cats.
No friend of personal hygiene or organic gardening
he willfully despoils my finest handiwork.
Were this not enough
he’s learnt to flip me off when finished.
And he leaves his Car and Driver magazines
strewn everywhere.

The other cat I’ve named Marlene
an enormous cougar (Felis concolor)
who haunts the foothills near my home.
She’s lean, muscular and tawny
like this poet I know in Portland who does triathlons.
I see her from a distance when I go hiking
usually around dusk.
She’s beautiful and harmless to me
but likes an occasional rack of lamb.
Or the odd poodle who just will not shut up.
I adore her physique, her authenticity.
We don’t talk much but I understand
she’s torqued that we humans have co-opted
the term cougar for more pejorative things.

In a perfect world
Marlene would make the acquaintance
of Sweet William.

~ J. D. Mackenzie

(inspired by Irene's NaPoWriMo promt #18 Cats)

We Deserve Better

Winter is barely over
yet we still bear the marks of that season of death
like scars made by talons sunk into our backs

We've lived on the fringe of a real life
for far too long and now it's time
to get that taste out of our mouths

We need to rest our yellowing bruises
and limp away toward something better

We will not be anyone's marionette
in this boring, soul crushing life any longer

We deserve better

It's time to stow away to somewhere rustic and real
I want to light torches of pitched pine and hike
down to the hot springs on the Wind River

We'll carry a jug of that stuff your cousin makes
when she's not making disturbing art
We'll lie in the swirling mineral waters
and pumice each other in the glow of a crackling campfire
Hike back through the late snows
massage the chi back into our needy flesh

I need to strum my double-O eighteen Martin
and I need to strum you, beloved
until your strings twang
and the alphas howl along

I'm missing the sweetest sound in the world
you know the one
let's make it together
again and again and again

~ J. D. Mackenzie

(inspired by napowrimo prompt #9 choosing your mission from among twelve)