The cat’s on the table, the geese in the yard, <br />the parrot is screeching, the dog’s on his guard, <br />the brown leaves are falling, the succah is wet <br />and squirrels are stealing, the deadline’s not met, <br /> <br />the squirrels seem curvy and loveable but <br />they gobble each corncob and bury each nut, <br />and with them my minutes and hours and days <br />belonging to others’ demands and the ways <br /> <br />each person I love shunts my dreaming aside; <br />I cannot say no and I cannot deride <br />a request or a need or a word or a cry <br />of love me or help me - if not woe betide <br /> <br />that parroty conscience, those pestering meows, <br />that autumnal anguish, the dry dusty house, <br />the voiceover screeching, the bark and the howl, <br />the fear of the silence, the hoot of the owl. <br /> <br /> <br />(LRH/10.1.07)<br /><br />Linda Hepner<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/who-who/
