The family flees my bedside
when vertigo turns to vomiting
But the new stray cat stays
Stares in hair-ball camaraderie
Watches with what seems
to be unconditional incoherence
As I continually decline
comfort foods and favorite snacks
Before she executes comprehension
with dead center precision
When I return from the doctor’s
to find a bloodied mouse placed on my pillow
Ellaraine Lockie is widely published and awarded as a poet, nonfiction book author and essayist. Her fourteenth chapbook, Sex and Other Slapsticks, was recently released from Presa Press. Earlier collections have won Poetry Forum’s Chapbook Contest Prize, San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival Chapbook Competition, Encircle Publications Chapbook Contest, Best Individual Poetry Collection Award from Purple Patch magazine in England, and The Aurorean’s Chapbook Choice Award. She also teaches writing workshops and serves as Poetry Editor for the lifestyles magazine, LILIPOH.
