New Story

I saw you in the city last night. You stalked

a rat who bustled his way through a garbage bag,

eating doughnut halves. I stalked

you. I watched from the fire escape while you crept.

Your ears up. Your tail out straight. Your body

stretched along the line begun by the point

of your nose low to the pavement. When you pounced,

my heart seized. You were up and back

already, the rat’s tail whipping up at your eyes.

And then nothing moved but the muscles

of your throat. My God, you know just what you do.