Poem: In Praise of a Cat (2007)

- for Brother Ron Fender

No tailor’s artistry

could equal the elegance

of my cat’s stripes

as he walks into the bathroom

where I’m taking a shit.

Purring, he rubs

against my legs.

He accepts me on any

terms, comes close

however I smell,

loves me without illusion.

He makes me ashamed

of my own cowardice,

of the times I have flinched,

repulsed by the stench

of human beings

who only needed

an embrace.