The Cats Rely On Me. Poem by Mary X

The cats rely on me.
As soon as I open
My back door,
And put one paw onto the patterned
Carpet; the cats nibble at my
Feet, scratch my ankles and flirt with the air.
They need to be fed.

The cats rely on me.
I tell them to be quiet
And that I’ll feed them after
I’ve taken some aspirin
To clear away the worms that
Molest my soil-hill of a brain:
Eating away at the nerves and electrons.
(Can they understand me?)

The cats rely on me.
They shout in their temperamental ignorance,
Telling the human to ‘Feed me now! ’
They tip toe towards the cupboard
Where the food is kept, like a ninja
Stalking his victim in the dead-cold night.
I hover like a ghost to the dishes

The cats rely on me
To think and feel for them,
Act and react on their behalf.
They are trained-wild but left to
Their own cattle and zebras;
They’d be lost in the tall grass
And the sun would be too hot for them.

The cats rely on me.
Maybe cats are as humans
In some respects. We may rely on a big
Mystical light, sparkling and shimmering
In the sky above us, invisible vibes.
All I can think about whilst tearing off
The heads of cat food is the tides.
(Crashing waves of instinct and trust.)

The cats rely on me.
I push the dishes to the floor and tremble into
The room next door.
The sound of teeth slowly devouring chunks of
Processed rabbit gnaws at my ear,
I smile at my little wild-beasts, they are free –
I rely on myself.