Tino (for ‘Giornata del gatto’)

Luckily the cat feted was found low in a net of weeds As half is mine, already, the other's not, with a little grime on one pink lip: this cat (of all critters) I thought, slated for love, was lost in darkening pots-- Tino, of cries and starts & of the tonsured neck & the throaty purr who likes to tear sheaves off lonely hearts

(2015)