Adopted

The family flees my bedside
when vertigo turns to vomiting

But the new stray cat stays
Stares in hair-ball camaraderie

Watches with what seems
to be unconditional incoherence

As I continually decline
comfort foods and favorite snacks

Before she executes comprehension
with dead center precision

When I return from the doctor’s
to find a bloodied mouse placed on my pillow

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About the Author

Ellaraine Lockie is widely published and awarded as a poet, nonfiction book author and essayist. Her fourteenth chapbook, Sex and Other Slapsticks, was recently released from Presa Press. Earlier collections have won Poetry Forum’s Chapbook Contest Prize, San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival Chapbook Competition, Encircle Publications Chapbook Contest, Best Individual Poetry Collection Award from Purple Patch magazine in England, and The Aurorean’s Chapbook Choice Award. She also teaches writing workshops and serves as Poetry Editor for the lifestyles magazine, LILIPOH.

Ellaraine Lockie
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