Cat i

I wake fast yet again
in the middle of odd summer night
no work to do no thing to read
no thing to eat no stupefying drink
no money no car no teevee no sleep
no airconditioning no electricity
only insomnia which I don’t have
except sometimes like tonight
when mere household pain relievers
are in the house and I need something
to consume my entire weight
in obsessed sleeplessness
to override my streaming
mental derivations because
I have no even insignificant other
no one to touch no one in reach
no one to call no phone anyway
no computer no radio car long gone
only the empty cosmos and house
both of which I squat with gratitude
and sit on this waist-high rock wall
attached to the front of the house
but I do have the surprise
of a fluffy gray cat appearing
with reason enough of its own
suddenly right next to me
- or could I have appeared to it -
purring loudly along in harmony
with something beyond my senses
perched beside me in the still night
I hold gray cat and in sudden warm breeze
resume the endless realization
that dreams of day pursue me
I the blood, bread and water
that the wheels and rules of life
buffet my thought won't let me rest
override even premonition of calm
I embody disturbed edge and
deposed poise and verve with
horrible timing but I’m glad at least
that unpredictable large carnivores
and unthinking lethal technologies
don’t invariably converge
to chase me up this wall where I sit
with this dear soft purring cat
sleeping with its eyes open
while I dream without sleeping at all

Larry Piltz
Indian Cove
Austin, Texas