right hand pointing

M e g   T u i t e

Stray

Steve drove to animal shelters across the county

like another man drives to strip clubs

after mom and her two cats died.

He paid cash for all forty pairs of eyes that

now followed him while he paced,

hopped up on Flonase and Animal Crackers.

They listened to his fears.

Men got struck by lightning

six times more than women.

There was the mounting price of litter,

what to wear to the grocery store

and why he never dated.

They howled like his mother,

but unlike her,

let him smoke inside.