Cat Journal

City Cats/Canaries

a stray cat lost downstairs
closed door bolted against
light (if there is music it knocks
like a fist
melts harmony
shatters teacups)
it comes into this place
inside these walls
where tenants are too busy to
keep cats
and small frail birds.
but grandma kept both:
she had great affections toward
her cat
as clever as knicknacks
tin coasters
rose-colored glass apples.
her yellow canary sang
through hot Irish oatmeal
tuned to the musical silences
of the cat

as much light poured into her
large room to cheer her and her
pets as from a modest
greenhouse

there were no walls
when her bird burst into song