I see the cat across the street
eyeing a squirrel curiously.
Is she thinking of killing him,
like a harmless fluttering bird,
or is she just wondering what
he is doing and nothing more?
Were the cat to try to catch
him, I think he’d be too fast
for her, especially up a tree.
I see the cat crouch and wag
her tail, and I know she’s about
to spring at the squirrel. The
squirrel wise to the cat’s plan,
stands up and makes a kuk kuk
sound and seems to taunt the
cat who growls and springs.
The squirrel too fast for the cat
speeds up a telephone post.
The raged cat follows seeming
too mad to cease the chase.
But when the squirrel leaps
on a telephone wire, the
cat too enraged to forgo the risk
tries to navigate the shaky wire
and keep chasing the squirrel.
The squirrel says kuk kuk again
turns on the wire adeptly and
swats the cat off balance, and
the cat flies off the wire.
The cat is airborne for a moment
until her body is smashed on
the concrete street and run over
by a garbage truck.
The squirrel looks at the dead
squashed cat and makes a
ku-u-ku sound as if celebrating
his enemy’s road killed demise.
Bob Boyd
