I see my hand on my bare knee,
notice it’s aliveness, sitting, here,
on my picnic table.
It’s just dawn, Venus is cloaked,
though she was aglow, earlier.
I have two kittens romping
in my wilderness backyard,
yesterday morning, there were three.

Three totalities of genetic difference.
Yet, their mother loves them each the same.
Her name is Neeneenew… Ha, don’t ask!
It’s a pet name, stuck through eternity
to this calicoed ferocious Maine Coone cat mother.

Such a marvelous design to cats,
to their forms and colors and temperments.
Suki-Sue…a mix of Coone and Siamese,
went to her home-for-life, yesterday.
A sad day, for me and my daughters.

This morning, in the tree above me,
her brothers, Baby-Boo and Pooh-Bear
play and learn, without Suki. Boo,
with his precious, small black face,
watches me write, down below.

Slinky and slim, blackly dark, he has paws
that denote largess of futured wisdom
on how to catch flies…and mice, how to jump
high with exuberance in attacks, upon feet
or feline, he loves both, as well as loving
his own cattiness.

Two little heads look down at me…

Pooh-bear is a momma’s boy, totally gray,
even to his rapt, and enwrapped, eyes.
He was the first to roll on his back
with pleasure of human contact and
joy of life. His fluffiness and innocent look
belie his adventurous nature.
Pooh, the wanderer, who studies ‘things’.

Two little faces, looking down at me…

Do they miss their sleek Suki-sister?
Fuzzed like a boa, patterned with impression;
one dark paw had the glow of white-birth.
She was perfection of mismatched parts,
Siamese tipped ears with calico backs,
and eyes of marbled blue…

Our rabbit is making a racket
in his opened cage, drinking his water.

The two little kittens are no longer
peering at me, they’ve gone to explore
a wiggly stick I stuck in the tree, and,
when it falls to the ground amid their glee,
I will imagine them laughing at me,
all three.

One kitten has come down from the tree,
and is chasing the rabbit, who, in turn,
chases he…

My mittenless kittens,
I must send you from me.

Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen
© Copyright 7/12/04