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.
oh this is wonderful, you'd recognise each other soon enough, I know. I love your description of her feet...
ReplyDeleteI coach myself
ReplyDeletein the imagined chaos...
love those lines Hannah... very potent and good for life....
thea.
xx
The fact that hypothetical is addressed really jazzed me.
ReplyDelete"This will never
happen, me locked in
a room with forty other cats"
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.
ReplyDeleteI love the way the frame in the image plays into the idea of zooming in on your cat!
ReplyDelete'A mess of Christmas lights'. Just right. As is all that encloses that eminently collectable phrase.
ReplyDeleteHa 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
ReplyDeleteOven mitts!
ReplyDelete