Cat-Nips Hope

On the bed, my ginger cat settles onto a pile of clean laundry, dryer warm Feline steady stare, resolute a strategy of possession she relaxes the way prayer soothes "Off!" I command. My cat an unwelcome bedded guest. she whines, "Surely, he's bluffing!" solidified empowered swollen in the pride of "I'm not moving!" meows spewed like an anthem of resistance I lift her from the pile, my underwear dangles from cat claws like cheap tinsel on a tree she exits, her short lived reign sulks into howls of whining till dinner softens her rebuff till wherever curiosity and comfort take her, anew My hope of co-habitation: to calm the little woes of daily chores to reduce cat prestige from shedded hair to shrink feline non-compliance to a manageable scale Our social contract - a trade off to reaffirm my status to maintain the charade of "boss" an unsteady footing in the crushed aspiration of rule Poem composed February 7/2022