A Thorough Cat

[ray miller]

Between the apple tree and trampoline
our piratical cat with black-patched eye,
flashes his white tail, fixes the green stare
on I as I hang the washing to dry.

A wood-pigeon’s feathers blanket the grass
like a snowdrift that’s forgotten to melt.
Our villain inspects his undertaking,
a shroud laid out to receive itself.

He’s not a cat who hunts merely for sport
or the kind to look shamed, consumed by guilt
like a cannibal at a boiling pot.
He does not play with the prey he has killed.

I hear the crunch of small bones, he devours
frogs and slow worms, fish and birds of the air
in efficient and unsparing fashion.
Tomorrow these feathers will not be there.

[jisbell00]

Hi Ray,

Great title. I like the poem a good deal, my only suggestion being to lose the comma after eye in S1.

Cheers,
John

[Macavity]

Nice one Ray. A cannibal consumed by guilt was fun. Perhaps efficient/unsparing are saying the same thing? 'A Thorough Tom' could be a title option. The plumage of a wood pigeon is mainly purple/blue, though there is a small white patch. I could imagine a snowdrift with dove feathers.