she�d look up for birds
displaced skyward by chipmunks
who�d usurped the feeder � she prowled
through wild sarsaparilla fronds
further and further, either chased or stalking

������doublevay of geese, vulture ring
������above a sweating carcass

after eight-weeks in the woods
she returned, a mere sixty percent
of her body weight, her flea collar
embedded in thigh muscle

������the dissension of ducks �
������the earth's a pitiful feud for feathers

swan-white boots and dickey
to match, the motor hum
of dreaming traffic, this dear friend�s
diamond-pointed chin begs a beckoning
finger �

������earth, the growing appetite of Eve

������������������������she�s less easy than you
too long in one place and I feel her claws,
the sweet, sharp imprinting of teeth;
ha, she�s muchmore like me, squirming her
body under attention �til her butt�s in the air

������at the apartment of a friend,
������an extraordinary fringe of loneliness

we need chocolate and jam for faces,
a rough patch of tongue on an elbow
to start the strokes again

������do we believe actuarial charts
������and graphs, or long lines on palms?

under my hand
the cat grows my life longer,
but ever more, I calculate
the risks, plot the rises and falls
of your belly

������beneath my cool touch