Howling

Howling

He’s taken to howling,
“Ya-Howel, Mer-Ount”
In the dark, in the day,
  from another room, right here

He’s not in any pain
  although she says
“He sounds so painful,”

“Kitty, whadda you want?
  What’s all this howling?”

“Ya-Howel, Mer-Ount”
And his name tag is clinking
  against his breakfast bowl again,
  sounds of snacking jaws and teeth

We used to have a second cat,
They weren’t like litter mates
  but he licked her ear when
She came home from the vets,
We lost her two years ago,
  she died on my lap

“He needs a new girlfreind,
  someone to play thunderpaws,
  at two am in the dark, he’s lonely,”
She doesn’t want to get a second cat

He’s not in any pain
  although she says
“He sounds so painful”

“I think he wants attention,
 The more we answer his howls,
   the more he howls for answers back”

“Kitty, whadda you want?
  What’s all this howling?”

“Ya-Howel, Mer-Ount”