Marriage in the Infinite City

We stroked the cat

instead of each other.

We gave the cat

the biscuit we most wanted:

just frittered it away

between thumb and forefinger

and the cat mouthed the crumbs

politely, with glistening gums.

We had a single heart

but it had turned against us.

We would have waited forever

so long as it was for us

but the cat stalked

from sink to hotplate

in that tiny room,

even the crook of its tail

measuring, judging...

If we could have had sex

only in bed or made love

just with our bodies .. .

Laundry hung dazzling

in the window, smoke

rose at a cant,

the sun set.

The cat knew us too well

and slept to forget us,

twitched, bared its fangs,

then rolled over,

presenting its belly

to be caressed in a dream.

Structure

30 lines · 7 stanzas