stray

on the night the stray cats
started eating the trees
we ordered pizza. scrolled on our phones
& saw ads for armageddon.
they said, "why don't we just
get this over with." i scoffed.
i keep having visions of a giant
constrictor in our house. i keep
a draw full of implements 
that i would use to kill it,
if it were to attack you. keep your
heart in a radio. "do not feed the cats,"
they say. they say, "they are
not cats." but they looks like cats.
only they are now the size of lions.
i understand though. maybe
they deserve this. maybe they've all
put in enough time being wayward.
sometimes i wish that 
into the night i would become powerful
like this. enough to turn headlines
into worm races. i think all creatures
want revenge. it is the urge 
to return what cannot be returned.
the pizza tastes amazing. the night is
covered with lightning & the birds
learn how to sing like violins.
the cats do not stop there.
they grow & grow until they are
human-sized. some even walk 
on two legs. they paw at windows.
i close the curtains. when they come for us
i will be prepared. we make a little altar
to the monsters. piles of canned fish
& a wedding ring we found
under one of our tongues.
there is a rumor that 
if you are quiet & still enough
they will not even know you're there.
i know this is not true though.
disaster is a process of becoming
everyone's kindling. the television 
plays a commercial for the pizza
we are eating. this feels like
the snake swallowing her tail. 
boas in the crawl space. cats,
still growing, perched now
in the cedar tree. they feast on the birds
& then sing for them.