House Cat

by Matt Gillick
Shadowed cross-hairs in an angered lion’s eyes.

Strolling across the kitchen floor with cliché
linoleum

as impediment coating.

It moves forward, sneaking behind
the dishwater housewife, too pruny in the fingers.

But it slips, being too slippery for the fur
underpaws converting
the lion’s initial, primary

and secondary pounces,
into a log-rolling fluff-ball trying to maintain its balance.

The housewife looks behind to see an empty kitchen,
frowning
at the scratched tiles.

—

Matt Gillick is from Reston, Virginia. He graduated from Providence College in 2015. He tries to write. His work has been featured in Commonline Journal, The Bitchin’ Kitsch and aaduna magazine.