cat cliche but true nonetheless

terry trowbridge

I pull the chain

that turns on the light

in the pantry closet


every time I do

the hi-hat pianissimo *clink* 

materializes instant cat


the cat’s eyes widen in mantid fascination

focused on the jiggling sparkly chain

pupils eclipsing all the way

to the outer rings of Saturn


those pupils must be letting in so much light

as though the artificial Sun at the center

of the pantry was not blazing blinding bulby 

illuminating all of creation


John Milton said the Sun

was placed at the center

as a divine ornament


Milton’s God

did not anticipate

the descendants of Adam and Eve

would copy the Sun and dangle a string

and look away

because their favourite ornament

would be cats

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