Détente
When I arrived home, the cat was already packing,
said she had had enough – if not in so many words –
stole a last glance at her coat in the bedroom mirror
and left. Not as much as a purr for a week, though
we noticed on Whatsapp she had been taken in
by a family on the next road, who put up a photo,
thinking that someone might claim her.
We said nothing, although some of the neighbours
drew our attention to the post. A good likeness alright,
we acknowledged, but not our Mitzie, hoping
that the absence of any desperation on our part
would blow her cover. Then, this morning, the gift
of a squiggling mouse dropped through the cat-flap,
a fitting first foray in what could be a delicate process.
A past winner of the Trocaire/Poetry Ireland and Poems for Patience competitions, Maurice Devitt published his debut collection, Growing Up in Colour, with Doire Press in 2018. His poems have been nominated for Pushcart, Forward and Best of the Net prizes and he is curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site.