Member Poem

Last week an orange tabby cat repulsed
from a bed of thorns by an irate shovel-
wielding homeowner ran headlong
through a drainage ditch finding himself eventually
in the cave of Eden a paradise
of pallid and unabashed earthy violence and nakedness.
Oliver bringer of sins
descended into the hall of wonders with a bolt
of lightning clenched between his teeth
captured during his journey behind a row house
and hissing at the sudden sightless clammy touch
of a salamander he dropped it deep
deep into the lake of God's sacred mystery.
For a few shining seconds Oliver saw everything
the past the future the reason for his birth and the meaning of his death
the fate of all creatures.
The blazing negative afterimage lingered for the rest
of poor Oliver's life until he slipped into the well himself down into the wet death.