' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' The Poor Little Kitten(For Onelia) Poem by Dónall Dempsey

The kitten
goes limp

as the best form
of defence.

It mews pathetically
as if to say:

“Will no one save me
from the clutches of this girl child! ”

Girl child
(a giantess to it)

clutches it
more tightly still

telling the kitty to:
“Behave yourself! ”

The giantess has just
put her right hand mitten

on kitty’s
bobbing head

transforming it
into court jester

and now tucked its bum
into her left handed mitten

so that it becomes
some

imaginary creature
a mapmaker’s myth.

Mummy cat
glares at giantess

who distracted
from her task

by an offer of
orange juice

sets the creature
free at her feet.

Mummy cat
snatches her kitten back
by the scruff of her neck

wondering what to do
about the changes

it has undergone.

The giantess
who has fallen

slowly to sleep

snores...snores
to her self.