The New Year’s cat

Gray and white tabby

sits on a stump

bell around its neck

watches me dig

roots of dead trees

the earth has heaved

to the surface

Gray and white tabby

sits on a stump

preening in the sun

watches me

watch him

watching me

Gray and white tabby

jingles his boredom

turns his back

walks away

and never once

offered to help

1-1-20