Cat Moving Kittens
By
Austin Smith
We must have known,
Even as we reached
Down to touch them
Where we'd found them
Shut-eyed and trembling
Under a straw bale
In the haymow, that
She would move them
That night under cover
Of darkness, and that
By finding them
We were making certain
We wouldn't see them again
Until we saw them
Crouching under the pickup
Like sullen teens, having gone
As wild by then as they'd gone
Still in her mouth that night
She made a decision
Any mother might make
Upon guessing the intentions
Of the state: to go and to
Go now, taking everything
You love between your teeth.
Even as we reached
Down to touch them
Where we'd found them
Shut-eyed and trembling
Under a straw bale
In the haymow, that
She would move them
That night under cover
Of darkness, and that
By finding them
We were making certain
We wouldn't see them again
Until we saw them
Crouching under the pickup
Like sullen teens, having gone
As wild by then as they'd gone
Still in her mouth that night
She made a decision
Any mother might make
Upon guessing the intentions
Of the state: to go and to
Go now, taking everything
You love between your teeth.
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Disclaimer
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2018 by Princeton University Press, "Cat Moving Kittens," from Flyover Country by Austin Smith, (Princeton University Press, 2018). Poem reprinted by permission of Austin Smith and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.