Dearest Garrett:

This time
beside Central Park
a dozen cats eating a dead rat.

Hysterical theatrics
for the hysterical.

I wanted to show you how
you can interpret the pigeons.

You whisper to the cats
because the neighbor cringes
at your voice
the way I can’t stand to watch TV
until it’s turned off.

Topographical globes remind me of Braille–

the tiny bumps of the countries
like chicken pox scabs.

Previously published in Forgetting Aesop.

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Ariana D. Den Bleyker has published in many fine journals. Her chapbook, Forgetting Aesop, was recently published by scissors and spackle. She is the editor of Emerge Literary Journal.