CW Poetry Class: First Poem

So for the first week of class, we read "The Backyard Mermaid" by Matthea Harvey and I wrote this for my first assignment. I loved the concept of the mermaid being desperate to be in a wetter world. It reminded me of my sister’s indoor cat that tries to run outside every time we open a door.

Indoor Outside Cat

There are only small chances to escape.

Her harness, though restricting,

is the key to the patio door,

but her mother will be gone until Thursday.

The door by her food is opened regularly,

but only leads to spiders’ homes, metal devices,

and a roaring machine her keeper uses to go outside.

Why does the keeper use that machine?

Outside is not scary like that machine, but

quiet and wondrous like the equally baffling shower

whose mouth spouts nothing but hot water and

does nothing but make her mother smell different.

She must get out in to the open,

into the sunlight unpolluted by windows.

She can almost feel the wind in her whiskers and taste

the pine needles and cold grass.

Maybe if she sings her feelings her keeper will understand.

The keeper likes to nuzzle her mate at the front door

when he leaves in the morning.

Longing for a sniff of something earthier

than the dust in the litter box, she advances

undeterred, even purring. She will map out

every inch of that grassy space. An indoor cat

at home in her outside place.