The Claws Insist

They try to sell me disappointment
this ragged legion of ochlocrats
but I have hidden my purse from the herds’ hands
and pay out love to the worthy cats

I think they hunted the Florida panthers
and culled their numbers in greed and spite
until the mythical skunk apes packed up
leaving behind them only the night

For certain sometimes I speak to be listening
painting ribbons on the timeworn stage
a sudden truth like a bursting spotlight
illuminating an empty cage

There is a loudmouthed cat here
who grooms himself with a shiv and tongue
where beats the heart like a Spanish guitar
collecting quarters in the sun

There is a rhythmic séance
inducing tremors by loops divine
felicitous and so frightful lovely
it carries weapons of a gentler kind