It was before the plague on the Ilse de France.
We had just finished chocolate and pistachio ice cream
in an ancient restaurant with green and gold walls
a beautiful man in his 30’s jet black long hair
was being led by his Nubian cat on a Sunday afternoon.
The cat walked into the shops
to introduce the man who never said much
maybe he didn’t want to, but we followed the cat
who was black, sleek and green eyed
down the cobbled street
into the women’s clothing store
and the small candy shop
selling Vichy licorice mints
late sun glimmering off the cat’s body.
It was just like the dream of Pushkin
and his cat of knowledge
just like that day where
an imprint of your hand
like a shadow or fossil
lay over the page.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 25, Issue 2.
Gloria Monaghan is a Professor at Wentworth University. She has published six collections of poetry. Her poems have appeared in Alexandria Quarterly, NPR, Poem-a-Day, Lily Poetry Review, Mom Egg Review, Quartet and River Heron among others. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize, as well as the Massachusetts Book Award, and the Griffin Prize. Her sixth, Cormorant on the Strand (2023), has been recently published with Lily Poetry Review.
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