The cat can fall too
though her nine lives
help her twist
out of harm’s way –
watch her twirl
through legs and broom sticks
see her slither
between spark-blown chimney stacks.
The devil has come to cast her
as a virgin in taffeta
reclining on a sofa
how will she sheathe
her clawshide
her teeth?
will she embroider
song birds’ feathers
into macabre still-lives
string delicate charms
from rat vertebrae
or needle-point the flesh
of her lovers while they sleep
so they wake
itching from her touch
wonderingwhose brand
adorns them?
However she hides
her brindled pelt
one nightlatea call
will comesinging
through the iced air
and she’ll archher backleap
from the casement
leave her silhouette
against the moon
an absence
in her lover’s eye
© Jessica Traynor
Picture 10006946, illustration by Grandville, circa 1840
Jessica Traynor’s debut poetry collection, Liffey Swim (Dedalus Press, 2014), was named one of the best poetry debuts of the past five years on Bustle.com. She is currently under commission to write an opera with the composer Elaine Agnew for Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture. A thirty-minute choral song cycle, An Island Sings, was commissioned by Poetry Ireland to be performed in the National Concert Hall in March 2019. Prizes include the Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary, the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year Award and the Listowel Poetry Prize. Her second collection, The Quick, was published in 2018. https://jessicatraynor.com