The Cat Sat on the Mat .

• By Henry Coburn (he/him)
• Art “Po’s Poised Pose” by Olivia Bievenue (she/they)

Your full stops 
                          are just periods
That you punctuate   with dashes – 
  And bracket  with an emphasis 
    ( The parent of parenthesis );
     Your colon’s   double-dot   tracks flashes,
     With that dozy hair  combed in a  coma
      Like a   pause   in a clause,
     And the   claws   in your paws
    Give   back slashes
  Subjecting   objects   to that
                              Predator’s predicate,
Giving,   past   time   present,
                           Full stop,   period:
 A life sentence.