Sigourney was a saltwater princess
born from a flash flood;
a stray cat I found
stuck between the boards
of a wooden fence.
Her cries mimicked
the local 6 o'clock siren
with a backdrop
of toe beans fettering
on a park sidewalk.
I mirrored the way
her left paw traced
the cracks of the cement,
(fast paced, sloppily),
then ushered her out
using a combination of
strength and saliva.
"It's okay,
you won't get wet,"
I whispered
as my left hand struggled
getting out a plastic bag.
Carefully,
with precision,
Sigourney was plopped
backwards into
torn up plastic
marked
Have A Nice Day!
Alone we trudged
through flooded baseball fields
and gazebos
to cross the highway.
"Do you want
to go home?
Do you have
a home?"
I took a shortcut through
the Taco Bell drive-thru,
cars honking,
claws breaking through
malleable material.
cotton, skin, etc.
Sigourney said nothing.
"Good,
because I don't know
if I want to."
Tucked into a bag tucked into a jacket,
we headed westward
as far as we could,
before a cop approached
a teen at midnight
technically committing
a catnapping.
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139,244 Literary Works • 672,522 Reviews
HEELLO Willard,
I'm not sure why I laughed at the last part when I saw "catnapping". Is that why it's marked under humor?
As I read through the poem, I began to think that Sigourney wasn't a cat but a person. Is that why you used "catnapping" instead of "kidnapping"? At the beginning of the poem, I understand that Sigourney drifted to the narrator's house after a flash flood. Then the narrator was wrongly accused of catnapping. Everything suddenly made sense after I thought about it.
This poem almost mimics the plot of a story. The narrator finds a lost cat, tries to return her, but is accused of catnapping instead. Well, at least, that's what I think happened. It might be something totally different because I'm a really bad interpreter. This is a very nice trick. The poem makes more sense this way, like your telling a story in a more rhythm-y tone.
Wonder what happens next,
Night Kaizer
This was really nice to read. I liked the metaphor in the 2nd stanza, you did it really well.
I'm assuming this is a ballad, you've told us what's happened, and you've done it well in my opinion.
The irony at the end is humorous and very well done!
A suggestion would be to make it a bit more poetic. In some places it's a bit narrative-like, for example
"It's okay,
you won't get wet,"
I whispered
as my left hand struggled
getting out a plastic bag.
like you can talk and it would sound like that. It's called prose and I think you should avoid it in ballads.
One last thing: at the beginning you said "Sigourney WAS the blah blah"
Does this mean the cat... DIED??? ;(((((
- Tiana
omg i love cats so much <3 ;-;