<\/p>\n
Mowgli
\nby
\nRadiance Angelina Petro<\/p>\n
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There are eight cat toys on the floor.
\nThree balls with bells inside, three knitted
\nmice with catnip inside, one feathery thing
\nthat looks like a sex toy, and one stuffed cucumber
\nthat looks even more like a sex toy.<\/p>\n
And still Mowgli wants the pen in my hand.<\/p>\n
When I go to sit down in my poetry chair
\nhe\u2019s waiting, and when I begin to write
\nhe pounces for the pen, trying to wrestle it from my hand
\nwith his kitten claws and kitten teeth,
\nand, of course I wave it like a conductor\u2019s wand<\/p>\n
and he follows it with his face and he stands
\nup to grab it down. But then, I need to get to work,
\nso, he settles on my journal and watches
\nwords emerge from my pen as I nudge him
\nfurther and further off the page as I go.<\/p>\n
This is every morning.<\/p>\n
And sometimes I am reminded of–and I\u2019m sure
\nthe Muse remembers this too\u2014when, long before
\nI rescued Mowgli from the streets–I\u2019d try to wrestle
\nthe pen–with my kitten claws and kitten\u2019s teeth–
\nfrom the Muse\u2019s patient hand.<\/p>\n
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