Switch (poem)

Switch

your living was got by pleasing cats

unthreading strings of thin cord and leather

letting stains that mark deliberations

dashed on places of established quality

boundaries where the departed show no signs of rising, stains

be left in service to an outreaching new dynamic

where the human way, so faulty

gets no nod of ordained ascendency

the cat would like a bit of chaos

a hole or two inviting mice

a light left on at night

to draw through screens left torn

some interesting moth

you came before the Angels’ Tribunal

how you had done with the cats was chief

among the thirty-seven things

your passing of the first stage in criteria is ranked

“Remember, here we don’t speak of bad or good…

You are eligible to earn points, in detachment from material

objects, but…it so happens…

You have scored a two. A two is not failure, however

It’s the cat’s judgment, not yours

You haven’t minded the sofa, but you must learn

to rejoice in it”

Switch

Spread Your Arms

(2020, Stephanie Foster)