The Cat Poem

It is very easy to write a poem
It’s as simple as taking a photograph
First, find your subject:
a fat woman in the corner of the street
or a cat licking its paws.
Then, without disturbing, capture
the image in good light
and let it remain coiled in the box.
Take a pen and write about
the soft pink cushions of the cat’s paws
and how the little petal of its tongue
spread quick flicks of moisture
over the fibers smoothing them into silk.
Write about the feline’s tightly shut eyes
savoring the fond feel of clean fur
and how one of its canines showed like the tip
of an iceberg- snowcapped and brilliant white.

Then, wash the paper in the solution
letting the ideas dissolve.
Peg the paper to a wire.
Light a cigarette.

Jot the fragments of the cat’s picture
on a paper, line after line
Until, you see a print
of the cat licking its paws
with shut eyes develop slowly
on the dry paper.

Open the cupboard and preserve
the negative, very carefully.