Poetry Double Feature: Unboxing, Cat and Mouse
Unboxing
Sinister plastic. Slipping, snaking, binding my legs
Bubbles upon bubbles of wrap, suffocating my sense of perfectionism
Because there’s no way I can pop them all
Hazy instructions laid out in an array of foreign symbols,
I can’t read my way out of the box.
We are mere playthings, slaves to tiny particles of dust
And sinister cardboard. Sneezing, slowing, a square space surrounding
Stagnant in a state of ever-changing affairs, the door above us is taped closed.
Sinister tape. Sniffing, sighing, wondering: what’s it like outside?
Maybe there’s hope, maybe there’s life,
Maybe there’s a way to put these confines behind us.
Unboxing is tempting.
Sinister temptation.
Sitting, sitting, more sitting,
Waiting, and waiting, waiting ‘round some more, till it’s all safe,
Stuck in a box in a box in a box in a box.
Cat and Mouse
I follow you wherever you go
I follow you and your modest disposition,
Chasing after quiet, whispering squeaks,
Not constrained by the bounds of my terrain
My eyes are peeled, watching for any sign you leave in your wake,
Any omen that may lead me to you
Sustained in a hunt I partake in day by day
There’s a certain kind of regret that ruffles my fur
My tail twisting in discontent and in sorrow
As I crave to steal you away
To hear you breathing, side by side,
Two cycles spinning in opposing directions yet part of the same whole
Ironically, I have nightmares of hurting you,
My claws piercing your delicate hide,
Dark eyes quivering with fear, but also with acceptance
It is my destiny, my gradual infinity
It is how nature prescribes it,
For we cannot all reach the prizes we seek,
The mouse burrows a hole in the walls of my heart
I yowl in longing for a soul who can comprehend
The solitude, the chase, the hunter’s crouch I am forever stationed in
A remorse, a repentance, a guilt that cannot leave
Like a tiger cannot change her stripes
I yearn for you, I hunger for you,
I am not constrained by the bounds of your vision.
You can’t see me, but I follow you wherever you go.