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Description
I had a cat hair on my tongue, replaced it
With cookie crumbs
To them, I was Everest, those little
Yarn chasers, those little clambering
Mewers of protest and conquest and everything in between

The purring
Went straight through my chest, straight through
The cords of muscle and through the air
I had just sucked between my teeth
Past my spine and down into the foundations of the house
The crust, mantle, core of the earth
While I tasted chocolate chips, some child in China
Heard the kitten
And his contentment

There was a bad movie on –
We weren’t watching it
We were watching somersaults, spidersilk thuds in tiny chests
Tidbits of a cookie shipwreck floating on the tops of milk in
Spiraled, chipped glasses
I slid my hand beneath
A soft belly, lifted her to my face
Fur on my lips, tongue on my nose – she smelled new, warm
She twisted and fell
The pads of her paws magnetized to
A hardwood floor
Scampered under the lockjaw fortress of
The armoire

You had half a cookie in your mouth
So I kissed your forehead instead
And watched while one of them
Attacked the end of your pencil, and I asked,
“What are you writing ‘bout?”

“Kittens and cookies.”