Thursday, September 1, 2022

His Ex-Wife's Cat

 His ex-wife's cat followed him home one night,
waited outside until he went to bed,
crept in through a window and, in an act of spite,
defecated  on top of his bald head.
The man woke up next morning early and bright,
several hours after the cat had fled.
He let out a yell so loud that all his neighbors heard,
when he looked in the mirror and saw his toupee turd.

His ex-wife's cat followed him home again,
found an open window and crawled inside.
The man started snoring at half past ten
and the cat padded over to his bedside,
jumped onto the nightstand and then,
seeing the man's wheezing mouth opened wide,
carefully positioned himself on the  headboard
and urinated down his throat as he snored.

His ex-wife's cat followed him home once more
but this time didn't catch him unawares.
"I'll kill you, you feline bastard!" he swore
as he came running down the stairs.
"You won't torment me anymore,
so you'd better say your prayers!"
The cat prayed to Bastet and beseeched her to protect him.
She appeared forthwith and tore the man a new orifice for his rectum. -- Jeff Barnes

Chiaroscuro

 Barely discernible in her bed,
she blends in with the artificial dusk
created by the closed blinds .

In the dimness she sees
her late daughter, her parents
and her friends from childhood

like a home movie
projected on the wall,
flickering with her consciousness.

Nurses come and go
but gradually become less real
than the parade of the deceased,

their voices becoming more muted
as if she is hearing them
from an  expanding distance

as she feels herself vanish
like an early morning moon
ebbing into the lightening sky. -- Jeff Barnes