Old Cat

//old cat

The purr of thin, silk,
old-gold velvet as sun through
window-glass gilds it.
Marshmallow fluff is velvet in my mouth
like velvet was the fur around my red-velvet muff
the pansies in the garden, velvet alive
my velvety babies, their unblemished skin,
a black velvet suit for holiday parties,
I am not inspired by velvet,
velvet ocean with sparkles in the dark
velvety grass in the park,
has my muse gone?
mullionedThe thin old poet
wore a black velvet picture
hat, black tights, and cape,
stood confidently as she
declaimed her poetry
about her mother.
An earnest, long grey-
haired New Englander who’d livedin California
20 years but still
dwelled in Massachusetts
blind to those about
her.
She walks in the past
with her long gray hair seeing
What did Eve learn--forget about food being the way to a man’s heart.