Drop-off Appointment at the Vet During Covid-19
She peered into the carrying case to see her cat.
she stuck-poked her finger through the bars,
cat.
she peered
into
the bars
to reconnect to reassure
them both
a touch of whiskered fur—
what if the situation were
to reconnect to reconnect to
see her
cat.
she
peered into
the cat
enclosed she wondered
fur—
what if the cat
she peered
enclosed she wondered fur—
what if the situation were
reversed
she wondered
cat.
she peered
into
the bars
reversed she wondered.
enclosed the cat
enclosed she wondered
fur—
what if the cat
she peered
enclosed she wondered fur—
what if the situation were
reversed
she wondered
the cat
takes a look back.
A Thick Paint for a Cow
Look Daddy—cows! so slow down—
What is the situation:
1. back seat road trip Sunday noon
2. nature seems controllable
3. understand in standard ways
And so it came to pass—
in America buffalo gave way to cows &
butter balls and butter pats
to vending machines to prison visiting
three young cows in a meadow
each one individuated and yet
oxen are so obvious
& so too zoos or realistic animal toys
but cows disappearing onto lawns and
housing tracts & so on
art tutorials brush brown blotches
form the head first then the torso
animals fall co-opted conquered
after all why look at all why look beyond
nature nature seems unstoppable
animals, prisoners, Beatrix Potter
imagine an animal as flashes
—streaks—color—texture
pinned to a gallery wall
Jeanne Morel is the author of three chapbooks, I See My Way to Some Partial Results (Ravenna Press), Jackpot (Bottlecap Press), and That Crossing Is Not Automatic (Tarpaulin Sky Press). Her poem, Loss & Other Forms of Death, won the 2021 Fugue Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Inflectionist Review, Black Sunflowers, Conjuntos, Great Weather for Media, and other journals. Jeanne holds an MFA from Pacific University and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in both poetry and fiction. She lives in Seattle where she teaches writing and is a gallery guide at the Frye Art Museum.
Published February 14 2022