You are the cat most like I was
as a girl with a soft coat, fine reflexes, fresh eyes.

I sat on many porches, mewing. I furred some legs.
Maybe I, too, pled too much, and begged.

Cry Baby, carrying on at the door—haul
your needy heart back down to the barn.

Jane Vincent Taylor has been teaching creative writing at Ghost Ranch, a retreat and education center in New Mexico, for the past decade or so. Her poems have appeared in Nimrod, Still Point Quarterly, and elsewhere, and her new book of poetry is called The Lady Victory. Taylor lives in Oklahoma City.

Originally published in This Land, Vol. 3, Issue 16. Aug. 15, 2012.