poem in progress

My roommate’s cat tried to kill her
This was the first (cat) (sign)
Like a vampyre,
he punctured right at the wrist mistaking her
for a virgin
no doubt her blood tasted sour
He spat it out, detached, and her blood
performed Olympic feats: highjumping! tumbling! hurdling!

My roommate’s cat
had the right idea

I took the opposite approach: when she yelled
I mewed
She kept yelling

But she had a soft spot for the cats
One after the other, when their claws
clamped down on that soft spot she said,
They’re only playing

My roommate’s cat –
— the second one — assimilated heat
like the Borg. anywhere he could find it, he pounced, absorbed
it all. Radiator Lap Keyboard … When I tried
to pry him off, he took my W key with him. O fare_ell dubya!
I never thought I’d miss you yet here I am
_ithout hope, _ishing helplessly
for my _ords back, _istfully _himpering (small comfort:
a _, by itself, provides _eak _armth.)

My roommate named her cats
absurd things like Gumbo Ginsberg
and Soda Pop. no matter how many lashes
they inflicted, she never learned to flee from them
though I’m no better
How long did it take me, after all? to flee from her