Christ you're afraid of alligators
and won't leave
the house when you make one
of your
infrequent visits won't step
off the porch and keep
checking
the latches before we sleep asking
can they climb
in the windows I bet they could
you say standing
on their tail and using those little shortie
legs they have to grip
on the sill and knock the glass out
with their snout but
it wasn't an alligator that got your cat was it
it was you who let her crawl
in the clothes dryer
with a load of towels and damn near
burned her alive from the heat
before you heard
the bump bumping and got off the phone
long enough to figure out what
was going on
and now the poor thing hugs the carpet and growls
when you bend down to feed her
crouching over her food like a lion with its kill
this no other way to say it this beast
your little sweetie that
you raised from when she was just a kitty
how can it be
that nothing we ever plan on ever stays the same
and if you didn't
have enough to worry about your daughter
has taken to walking in her sleep and what if
one night that goddamn cat
should leap up out of the dark and bite her in the neck
or god forbid
the face what then
oh god what
if the latches don't hold and everything flies loose
and it's all of a sudden the end of the world
like Cayce said like
wherever you try to flee it's still another
tsunami
