Neil Ellman’s most recent poem to appear here was “The Tranquility of Previous Existence” (April 2015)
Portrait of a Man with Cat Ears
By Neil Ellman
(after the painting by Richard Aldrich)
The man with ears like a cat’s
can hear the slightest movement
of a mouse, a leaf,
a hummingbird’s wings
or the breath of an angel
on the nape of his neck
Like a cat’s, his ears stand erect
and can swivel to hear
the pitch of the moon
as it orbits the earth.
But he can barely hear
the roar in his blood
and sound of his primitive thoughts
as he tip-toes through the darkness
of his mind never certain
if he’s a man at all
or a cat without a tale to tell.
Oh, oh, I like it. Juicy with questioning
wow, nice.