Cat And Muse Poem by Andy Brookes

the muse stares unblinking the sunlight streams in
patterning the floor.

she asks if I feel anything?
I don't want to feel.
I'm much like a tree stripped of its bark.

I need a modicum of self protection.

you must know she chides
I don't know what I feel or not feel
I have no key to this labyrinth,
I've lost the thread.

you wait expectant.
in expectation expecting me
to expectorate gobs of feeling.

is it art you ask?
more like a mountain to climb.
a scree of black razor sharp obsidian,
lacerating the soul, my minds a blank,
your meanings too obtuse, I say.

we circle each other,
you looking for a hand hold,
I not looking for anything but escape.

what you ask I can't give, am being cruel in my inability
to express a single thought,
she asks
I cannot grant the words you need nor your absolution.

stalemate she sighs.
as words fly out the window,
lost in the gale of cold morning air.