[If you count the catalogue of cats]

[If you count . . . ]

If you count the catalogue of cats

famished cats, cats in the woodpile, dawn barn cats

catching the milk stream, cats in the kitchen,

ember of cat spoor in snow,

wartime cats, war babies sent to another country

(how do you say cat how do you say milk)

cats in the belfry, are you crazy says my mother

no one had vets for cats those days, crazy rooms

of women and cats, cats at the farm,

cats in the river, cats in a sack.

Because

they are feral they don’t want

our pats or cuddles, not the cats of childhood,

cats that we fed that moved in and out

of the house, lounged on windowsills, cat

that slept on my head at night so I dozed

in fear of her claws and called muffled

my parents in the far reaches of the house.