Purrbox's Halloween

Purrboxx’s Hallowe’en

Hallowe’en:
Purrboxx, half-Himalayan cat,
in sphinx mode, hypnotized,
stares slit-eyed
as faint stirrings
sound outside his closed front door.
“Oranges and Lemons”
then
MIDNIGHT
chimes
on the grandfather’s clock:

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! .

A blackboard-screech scratch
at the redwood front door.
“Trick-or-Treat”,
a red-eyed
cat of bones
yowls
at Purrboxx’s “owners”.
Purrboxx
humps his back -
without
offering a treat -
bolts into the night
through the
open doorway.

The trick appears:
Ten shining eyes
observe him,
mouths slavering,
saliva falling like gutter water
glistening
in the porch’s yellow bug light,
dead moths in the glass lantern.
Coyotes howl, hoowwwllll, HOOWWWLLL
their siren song.

Purrboxx’s “owners”
rush after him,
call in vain,
stomp about,
flashlights flickering
under benches, under bushes,
until they hear a menacing
“rrrroooaaaOOORRR”,
deep and strong:
Purrboxx flies by
on the back of a broom
to the front porch roof
where he dismounts,
stroked lovingly by
a whirlwind in black. He
jumps to earth,
zips into his warm,
lamp-lit house,
through the open front door,
as the coyotes,
drooling, scuttle away.

Purrboxx
nuzzles his dish,
eats his orange fish,
thrilling with purrs.
His “owners” relax,
bolting
the sturdy
front door.