David Estringel

Shadow Cat, 2004

After Richard Hambleton (1952-2017)

Shadow cat
p   r   o   w   l
Low’r
East Village
silky
sidewalk
slink
lookin’ high
lookin’
low
‘round lampposts n’
alleyway
piss puddles
for
a tasty
trick
or treat.

Oil slick
tangles—
blacktarsexy
sheen—
brown sugar
smile
n’ puncture claw hunger
jonesin’
for the exhale
of a hypodermic
pounce. 

Fat rat’s
‘round the corner
throwing bones
sniffin’ bacon
playing
its fat rat
games
ripe
for the pickin’
to plop

on the doorstep—
eight lives
d
o
w
n—
on this ol’ city
street
for a thump
(n’ a thump
n’ a thump thump thump)
n’
its lil baggies
o’ cheese.

***

Previously published in The Daily Drunk