Welcome to “Poetry at The Arts Fuse.” A new poem every Thursday.

 

 

kittencam

 

my heart bubbles blood
to my arm
the phlebotomist and I exchange
stories of cats caught eating the Thanksgiving turkey
she misses her cat being a kitten
I missed my cat being a kitten
there’s always youtube
I say
kittencams

 

the first time I saw a kittencam
a half-dozen tabby kitten babies
gamboled in front of the camera
(their privacy violated?
I honestly don’t know)
in an anonymous white room
a zillion cat toys strewn about

 

enthralling yes
they looked a little kidnapped yes

 

a kitten had been pinioned
under a stuffed Minnie Mouse
five times its size
when it finally extricated itself
I could relax
and my eyes caught
the torrents of text
streaming
down the right-hand side
of the screen

 

Cuddle puddle is waking up!

Awwwwww….

 

I glance over
two sleep-knotted kittens
were indeed rising
wobbly and blinking

 

I glance back
for more play-by-play

 

now Tiger Stripe 2 wants the ball! Haha!

oooo White Nose is mad! ‘Meow meow! Meow!’

He’s saying ‘where’s my mama?!’ 🤣!

When are they letting her back in?

Bathtime for teeny! Clean those paws.

Look out Tiger Stripes 2! Number 1 is going to take that ball from ya!

Which ball? I didn’t see.

The red one.

Oh, they love that one.

White Nose just fell over asleep LOL

 

if I were a spy
or having an affair
this chat would be an ideal place
to exchange coded information

 

she shows me the tube of blood
to check my name is right
my blood
as it turns out
is as red as everyone always says blood is
I squint at the label
“yep, that’s me”
but really
I’ve stumbled upon
what I wish
my inner monologue sounded like
benign
true
observational
causing no harm to myself or others

 

Gilmore Tamny is an artist, writer, and musician. Her book of poems, HAIKU4U, came out in 2019. Her artwork has appeared in literary magazines and gallery shows. She’s played in numerous bands, including The Yips, Mike Rep and the Quotas, Chanel No. 5, Weather Weapon, as well as being mysteriously involved in The Mystery. She has a B.A. in English from Goucher College, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Emerson College, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection from the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art. Her paintings and prints are available on www.gilmoretamny.com. She lives in Somerville with a little cat named Faraday and is most likely listening to an audiobook, painting, watching a depressing documentary, snacking, playing guitar, railing at the universe, or some combination therein.

 

Note: Hey poets! We seek submissions of excellent poetry from across the length and breadth of contemporary poetics. See submission guidelines here. The arbiter of the feature is the magazine’s poetry editor, John Mulrooney.

— Arts Fuse editor Bill Marx