For Decades, by t.m. thomson

Walking the Cat, by Lorette C. Luzajic (Canada) 2004

For Decades
 
Lady (she looks like me) walks her cat
a burgundy and saffron striped
monstrosity
cooling sliding through evening
on rough pavement
tethered to woman by a rusty rope
hanging between her pocketed hand
and his frayed neck.
Lady ambles up a street (it looks
like mine) on long feet and scaly
red legs.
Her coat—a hybrid of green
stripes    teal raindrops     pink
squares—stirs in wind
(just like my own).
Her hair is a fog-ridden mess
through which no sun 
could shine
(myself, I’ve seen no sun 
for decades).
Her lips turn down
unhappy clown style
and like some deep sea fish
she has no eyes.
If she were me or I
her I (we) would not see
the watercolour sky streaked
primrose and lemon drop
and marine blue
either.
Nor would (we) hear the petals
crunching under (our) feet
like an ocean of violets
on their way to shore.

t.m.thomson

t.m. thomson’s work has most recently appeared in West Trade Review and Borrowed Solace and will appear in The Voices Project and Pensive  in the upcoming months.  Three of her poems have been nominated for Pushcart Awards: “Seahorse and Moon” in 2005, “I Walked Out in January” in 2016, and “Strum and Lull” in 2018.  She is the author of Strum and Lull (2019) and The Profusion (2019), which placed in Golden Walkman’s 2017 chapbook competition, and co-author of Frame and Mount the Sky (2017).  She has a writer’s page at  https://www.facebook.com/TaunjaThomsonWriter/