Crazy Cat Lady

This is a poem I found today while looking through some of my old journals. The Master’s Rhyme, which I used in a previous post, came out of an ending stanza that I cut from the version below.

All it takes is one.
Just one
step
and then
you trip.
And you’re rolling
tumbling
down a hill
you didn’t know was
there.
When you finally reach the bottom
all you can do is

think

about the scratches
and the bruises.
Lying on your back
you see your descent
and you understand
it started
with just that one
step.

I didn’t mean it to go
this far.
It started with one.
But the first
was also
the beginning
of my nightmare
come to fruition,
and
it drove me mad.

One cat, two cat
Wet cat, tree cat
High cat, new cat
Lost cat, free cat