Cat Journal

Cat's Tale

a shopkeeper kept a cat
it fell asleep hungry
rolled up in a ball on papers
that smelled like marmalade and
cherry cough drops
that darn cat the keeper would say
he let her outside when she got
on his nerves once when
the rain was turning to ice he
thought he heard a soft cry he wanted
to ignore he was packing tobacco
and taking monthly inventory but
the expression of the cat's amber eyes
bothered him
until he removed his spectacles
let her out the side door
put the paper carton she loves so
well back on the pumpernickel shelf

at the back of the shop he lived
in one room
the odor was always stale
he spent all day in the shop until
his feet hurt
he wore the same sweater with
patches on the elbows
then when a patrol car made
the last round
he could see their headlights against
the window if he watched
he counted up his receipts
and locked up the downstairs shop

he felt old
his arms heavy
he fell to snoring on the sofa chair
he had let the cat in
just above him
the cat purred
her tail brushing an apothecary jar
filled with dried stamps
she swished it and swished it
until the sound made the
shopkeeper's feet stop hurting
then stretching out her two
black-orange paws to the rug
the cat pounced lightly on the
shopkeeper's empty shoes
like a ballerina with a diamond arch


delighting in them
and sleeping all night there
his cat
dreamed about Pinnocchio nightly