Self-Portrait As Mary Ruefle’s Kitten
—after On Sentimentality “… if we fail to be moved by the kitten, something is terribly wrong.”
what to do cat around nothing not a thing just be a causeless emotion this hummingbird rumble alive in poetry balled in a lap or the slop of kibble or prose beyond the page oscillates across the floor like a ruffle now & then then back again lapping like a tongue rueful tastes sweetness yet cannot secrete it or the eye sees beauty rough compressed full of play tries to sustain it only to reduce it
Jay Brecker works and writes in southern California. His poems are forthcoming or have appeared in Permafrost, Lily Poetry Review, Ocean State Review, The Inflectionist Review, South 85 Journal, I-70 Review, RHINO Poetry, and elsewhere. His manuscript, A Ceiling is a Wall Seeking, was a semi-finalist for the 2020 Wheeler Prize for Poetry.