Leaning, by Nancy K. Jentsch

Der Kaktusliebhaber, by Carl Spitzweg (Germany) 1850

Leaning 
 
The pounce-ready cat leans 
toward the creek bank 
like a sun-lusting cactus. 
Both bend toward 
a tasty future--sun's sugary 
benevolence, mouse’s 
bone-streuseled protein. 
Blacky’s pose--bold-face 
comma--overlays Spitzweg’s  
painting--The Cactus Lover--
on my memory’s reel. 
This moment--the “stop” 
in “stop motion”--is the yeast 
I reach for in this poem’s brewing.

Nancy K. Jentsch

Nancy K. Jentsch’s poetry has appeared recently in Thimble Literary Magazine, Tiferet, Zingara Poetry Review and in numerous anthologies. In 2020, she received an Arts Enrichment Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Her chapbook, Authorized Visitors, was published in 2017 (WordTech Communications) and her writer’s page on Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/NancyJentschPoet/.