Kitty – Jonathan van Belle

 
Her white treble hooks hook hearts; 
a cat must dice, ever since the vegan lion was disparadised
 
Lil’ Red-in-Tooth, dear kitty preening, 
comes clawed and fond of cleaving  
 
Fond of me 
in a dish 
 
With eyes moon-round, the Egyptian queen, 
like Mephistopheles, springs out   
 
O, but oh look, oh, 
our dozing darling fiend, 
how she purrs,  
how she’s a purring donut 
 
Does Precious dream? 
 
Yes, of gutting,  
of flensing and filleting; 
of everything, bloodied, fleeing, screaming 
 
Into every open wound 
her heart-shaped nose dips, then drips; 
Soft dreaming, kitty sneezes blood, and roars a purr  
 
Only for eating, then excreting, 
does she deign adjourn the sweet hell in her

Jonathan van Belle is a copy editor for Outlier.org, an online education platform. He previously worked as a bookseller at Powell’s City of Books. Jonathan is the author of several books, all available online, and is currently working on his first book for Deep Overstock Publishing.

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