ANOMALY: CAT WITH TEN LIVES
By Cary B. Ziter
a deviation from the common rule:
a stunning white cat in life ten. she has
twisted the facts a tad by telling her new
man-cat she’s not even close to life nine.
she raises her head from a bowl of warm
whole milk to detail some of the anger,
but more of the insight of multiple lives,
explaining the changing terms of desire,
one epic era to the next, admitting
the tangible impact of jealousy – and how
asinine it is to believe one can have it all
without soiling the pillows, how painful
it can be to build muscle mass around
meteors that disappear. ten lives, the stakes
are higher, the rallied drama of better things,
of sensible hesitation. he doesn’t need
to know every personal secret, she thinks
with high hope for what’s to come – maybe
this is when the best memories begin.
CARY B. ZITER is the author of several published books for young readers. Prior to his retirement he worked for the New York State Tax Department, Exxon and IBM, including long-term assignments in Paris and Hong Kong. He earned a degree in journalism from Morrisville Agricultural and Technical College and his master’s in literature from Bennington College. His poetry has appeared in The Pointed Circle, Blueline, the Front Range Review, California Quarterly, The New Croton Review and other literary journals. He and his wife, Jozi, live in New York’s Hudson Valley region.
