**Published in New Words Press Literary Mag, 2023

grabbed for scraps of attention

like they were a delicacy

nibbled and savored like a

trapless mouse

grateful for what I could get

–

for your cup

of day old porridge.

bland and thoughtless,

hard to swallow,

but it was you holding me

–

by my tail

until I was meatless bones

the excess fat

dribbling off your chin