cougar

we were careful not to travel
to class alone: claw click
on linoleum:  florescent flick
light through long hallway
towards the science wing. 
a low growl rattling throat.
cougars are now endangered
but not in the high school building:
there they paced: on the roof:
in the bathroom: lapping water
from the sink: stretching out
in the corner of the kiln room 
where the cougars 
ate four students: last fall:
their bones:
used for sculpture class:
it's best to make something:
of misfortune: at lunch 
i told a secret aloud that 
i wanted to meet one 
of the cougars: face to face:
alone with no one else: 
see if a cougar would devour me:
everyone else left the table: 
fearful that being close to me was 
asking for danger: i tore
crusts from my cheese sandwich:
dangled them out in front of me:
making cat-calling noises:
hoping to coax one out of 
a janitor closet or down 
from the ceiling: none came:
i left the scraps of food 
on the floor: went alone
to the bathroom: to the big stall
where i'd go to be alone: 
it took me awhile to notice
the big cat: sprawled out
on the window sill:
tail moving like a charmed snake:
i told the cougar i wanted
them to eat me: but the creature
averted their eyes: pretending
not to see me: i said
"really it's okay, i need this,"
but that only made it get up:
paws to tile: the massiveness:
put its pink tongue in the sink:
opened mouth to yawn:
i wanted to say more:
to say that i loved the cougar:
that i was sorry they're going
extinct: the i hope one day
they'd decide to eat me:
bone for the art students:
make me into a chair:
a wind chime: 
i'd like to be a cougar 
some life: if there's any
left by then:
thick fur:
glossy eyes: 
perched at the end 
of a: hall