Roof Cats

Roof cat
one leg lame
splayed out sunny
no collar no name

Roof cat
flat gravel bed
only Malév
over my head

Roof cat
loping down
schoolkid-smoking
dog-walked town

Roof cat
afternoon fed
Tesco bag
fat scraps and bread

Roof cat Roof cat Roof cats

Roof cats
seven, eight, nine.
warm enough here
for Palestine

Roof cats
we screech and mate
the star-fizzed night
we conjugate 

 

Smooth cats
interlunar
spray and shadow
sparrow and tuna

Roof cats
twelve of us mothers
we had more children
so where are the others?

Roof cats
legion and lean
fur and spit
where the bones have been

Roof cats Roof cats Roof cat

Roof cat
winter and white
all my dynasty
die in the night

Roof top
no cat to be seen
gravel and slush
and the meat goes green.