World

By Annie Southard ‘23

i sometimes forget

like how i can dig my hands into

my cats fur and press my face into

the crook of her neck and just

become so completely overwhelmed

with the reminder that this small

beastly thing is alive and is looking up

at me with her big green eyes and

she will sink her teeth into the skin

that connects my thumb and my pointer finger

and i will laugh as she bats my hands away

and it’s with childlike wonder

and something maybe adjacent to freedom

as she curls up in between my legs

and hangs onto my sweater sleeve

(she rips holes into my nice knit sweaters

but she also brought me little toy balls

that twinkle like a kids piano so

i don’t find myself ever too angry)

and i remember to look up at the sky

every now and then

and i can’t believe i ever once forgot

how just wide the world is

and how i found myself

sitting on a blanket

scratching behind my cat’s ear.