by Howie Good

What you’ve heard is true –
cats go off by themselves to die.

At least ours must’ve,
slipping into the woods behind the house

with the discreetness of a shy assassin.
It was dark by the time we noticed

that she was nowhere. Years ago,
she’d wandered out of the same woods,

like misfortune’s appointed agent,
filthy as an old mop head and missing an eye.

Our kids named her Xylophone, for her stripes,
but then one by one left home before she did. 

 

 

Howie Good, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is the author of six poetry chapbooks, including the e-book,
Police and Questions (Right Hand Pointing, 2008), available free at Right Hand Pointing. He has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize and twice for the Best of the Net anthology.