Not Sunday but the bell
on the cat’s collar seems a benediction
as the cat rolls in the dust, feathers
its black coat with talc.
Dawn shakes a congregation of finches
from the trees, lashes
a knot in the sky.
Landlady of the cedar calls her mate,
onyx pendant at her throat,
clear notes of lament for what she bears,
thieves at every limb,
no weapon but this voice.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 15, Issue 3.
Jenifer Browne Lawrence is the author of One Hundred Steps from Shore (Blue Begonia, 2006). Awards include the 2011 James Hearst Poetry Prize and a Washington State Artist Trust GAP grant. Recent work appears in Bellevue Literary Review, Caesura, Crab Creek Review, Narrative, and the North American Review. Jenifer serves on the Centrum advisory board for the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference, and is the fiction editor at Crab Creek Review.See all items about Jenifer Browne Lawrence