My Cat is Sad
because the late September sun she tracks
across the duvet’s hollow fibre tundra
marks a downturn into winter weight.
because the moon lies drowning
in her water bowl; stars she can’t unpin
refuse to sparkle on her bigger coat.
because she’s lost her sweeter side;
that paintbrush tail runs ever-widening circles
round her whiskers’ under-estimation –
last month’s escape routes hold her back
a little longer with each foiled attempt
to slip a tightening collar.
because she doesn’t know she’s lost
herself: the changeling in a slanted past,
the stranger in tomorrow’s photographs.
Jayne Stanton is a teacher and tutor from Leicestershire. Her poems appear in various online and print magazines. Her debut pamphlet is forthcoming from Soundswrite Press in autumn 2014. She blogs at http://jaynestantonpoetry.wordpress.com/ and tweets from @stantonjayne