a gleaned nest — paper, dust, hair —
inside the wall of an old house
she wakes, fully wakes in her bed
to a low growl muffled by a body
clenched in the cat’s teeth
Mus musculus, or some other
lives longer in a house
than outside, tries to winter in
were she to turn on a light
the mouse is peanut size
sprout of tail, pale skeletal feet
drop the mouse
chase the mouse
growl
clenched, released, what the mouse
knows, is run run run
one cat, then the other cat
traps the mouse beneath a paw
trots off growling
no use in her getting up, no use anything
but lie there, over an hour, listening
three weeks to gestate
two more left to wean
morning light, she’ll find
the dead, the partial, or the missing
a streak of blood on a stair
the cats don’t settle, they prowl
inch by inch, eyes
whiskers
inside the wall
too quietly for her to hear
cries & rustlings followed by silence
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