Cats vs. Songbirds

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(it’s not a fair fight)

There are those who would say that cats are good for songbirds. Survival of the fittest. The strong will survive and adapt, and songbirds will emerge smarter, stronger and fitter as a result of the predations of the domestic cat. But it’s not a fair fight, it never has been.

In a world with humans removed from the equation, predators and prey face similar challenges, age, disease, the need for safe shelter, the struggle for sustenance. But domestic cats, in the main, do not face these challenges.

Domestic cats have distinctly human advantages. They, for the most part, have a reliable source of food, should they fail in the hunt. They have health care, they have a warm safe place to rest. Domestic cats, for the most part, don’t hunt to survive. Like humans, they hunt for entertainment.

a winter’s fire

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Old NY Taxi Driver

i know you,
know you well enough to know
you could rip off the mask
and devour me,
teeth dripping with blood and viscera
on the night of the fiftieth anniversary
of our first date.
i know you,
know you like an old taxi driver
knows the shortcuts to desire,
no matter how they try
the young drivers will never
beat me to the doors of pleasure.
i know you,
know you like an old master
knows his cello,
if i pluck just there
draw the bow just there
you will sing for me,
or whisper,
or shout.
i know you,
like an old choir director knows his sanctuary,
knows where every false note will linger,
making the old men move restlessly in their pews,
and the young ones wonder how long before
it’s time to eat.
i know you,
but i don’t know you at all.
i know you,
but it’s the mystery that draws me back
to those hidden teeth,
those eyelids shuttering
the need to rend and tear
flesh from bone,
laughter from pain,
summer love from a winter’s fire.