Through the Tattoo Needle of My Mind

Cyn Kitchen

Through the Tattoo Needle of My Mind

glaring of cats, glaring lazy hiss
of apathy, apathetic drunks drunk on arrogance,
drunk on butterflies,
passed out on a hot sidewalk hogging up the light.

bouquet of cats from Ohio, butt in the face
of humanity drawing lines with the stylus of her tail, licking
claw hooks like the head of a pen.

confusion of cats, a rage of cats,
gathered in the town square organizing a potluck
whose turn to bring the deviled eggs, whose to yowl
a special number.

kaleidoscope of cats,
cloistered on a moonbeam,
decorated by the stars’ colors of Joseph’s coat, dreaming
of spaceships, of floating in the universe beyond, of letting go
& holding on.

orgy of cats
their spayed & neutered parts
purr like Sunday Buicks turning the corner at Main & Broad.

bonfire of cats, flaming tassels flagged high
glowing with the pride of Monday on display
licks of fire dancing on their raspy tongues.

insomnia of cats, dancing on loop
through the tattoo needle of my mind
inky, liquid burst of fruit to spoil
the palms of my hands.

Cyn Kitchen is Associate Professor of English at Knox College. Her book, Ten Tongues, was published in 2010. Her poems and other work appear or are forthcoming in Still, Spry, K’in and Poetry South. Cyn makes her home in Forgottonia, a downstate region on the Illinois prairie.

Editor’s Note: The surreal poem reminds me of the “kaleidoscope” cat painting by Louis Wain suffering from schizophrenia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Wain