Two Haikus

Cats scratch at the door
keep us from sleeping all night
I retaliate.

This gray wet morning
I find the dog ate their food
I apologize.

Christmas Night, Tyler Street

The street went gray outside while we cooked
and then blue and black and purple and dark,
but around the edges, the ambiance cracked,
unfairly lit by Christmas trees
keeping vigil behind curtained windows
and each marking tense and pretending families,
so that the street lights looked sick
with forgotten love and near-dying faith.

And now the immobile urgency of a cat
sleeping in my lap - trapping me to my seat
with the tree and the tv glowing but silent,
with this pen and this crossword,
and the little white space aside
that for these marks must have been custom made -
unwinds the boredom and begins to lift
the gray fogs of an endless month.

Cinco de Gato

Happy Cinco de Gato: The Fifth of Cat!

In addition to that other Mexican holiday, it is also my two cats' birthday. To celebrate, some common phrases about cats, with their Spanish translation, as provided by WordReference.com:


When the cat's away, the mice will play, cuando el gato no está, los ratones bailan

Curiosity killed the cat, la curiosidad mató al gato

He thinks he's the cat's whiskers, se cree el ombligo del mundo

You look like something the cat's dragged in, tienes un aspecto horrible

You haven't got a cat in hell's chance, no tienes la más mínima posibilidad

It's raining cats and dogs, está lloviendo a cántaros

She set the cat among the pigeons, causó un gran revuelo

There's no room to swing a cat in here, aquí no cabe un alfiler

To let the cat out of the bag, levantar la liebre



and last, some pictures of the darlings:

Prowling

What rains wash tonight feels cold, brought up to shiver and freeze:
all shiny roads, rattling windows, shaking knees, pink ears.

What rains wash tonight are hours, from midnight till O-dark thirty,
when bed calls, sheets rumple, blankets stacked, kittens a'prowl.

What rains wash is me, tense and undetermined,
restless and wide-eyed, all jitters and thoughts:

a rocket without flaps, a penny tossed over a tower's edge,
a blunted apple peeler, a misbehaving auto-focus lens,
an analog clock ticking away on a stuck second mark,
a blinking orange traffic light, a declawed lion,
a dented tuning fork a'hum, a list of foolish metaphors,
a counterfeit bottle of whiskey, a stubbed toe in the dark blue-light,
a passing car going home, a tornado siren silence.

What rains wash tonight is me, unsleeping, a'prowl.

- 2:19am, Saturday, January Thirteenth, 2007