Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Narrowing It Down

Narrowing It Down

In a room full of black cats,
I know I could find mine,
but how long would it take me.

I know her face, her mouth,
her extra toes in front
so she seems to be wearing

oven mitts. This will never
happen, me locked in
a room with forty other cats,

the floor teeming with shiny,
dark creatures, some
authority demanding I select

and retrieve my animal from
the flock. I test myself,
hypothetically. How would

I respond in this fantasy, after
the panic, the ground
roiling around me with black fur

and claws, limbs and tails
and teeth, yellow and
green eyes dotting the shadows

like a mess of Christmas lights
plugged in, fizzing
light. Narrow it down, I coach

myself in the imagined chaos,
and then speak to them
to see how they behave. Let

them bite you. I will find her
eventually, as long as
I chant, Take as long as you need.

8 comments

  1. oh this is wonderful, you'd recognise each other soon enough, I know. I love your description of her feet...

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  2. I coach myself
    in the imagined chaos...

    love those lines Hannah... very potent and good for life....

    thea.
    xx

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  3. The fact that hypothetical is addressed really jazzed me.

    "This will never
    happen, me locked in
    a room with forty other cats"

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  4. This gives new meaning to picking one out of a crowd. Many stand-out lines in this, Hannah, and as a whole it's wonderfully realized. Oh, the mind games we play with ourselves.

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  5. I love the way the frame in the image plays into the idea of zooming in on your cat!

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  6. 'A mess of Christmas lights'. Just right. As is all that encloses that eminently collectable phrase.

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  7. Ha ha...I always dream of being in such a place, and sometimes, I too wonder, hypothetically, how I would identify my cat...but I know how...they unconsciously wave their tail when they hear their names! xx

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