After the Vet

How do you make the cat
Stop licking her wound?
The one with the pus
And icky stuff oozing from the side

The one you want to look at
Because it is so repulsive
And you can’t imagine
Having anything so imperfect
Living right under your skin

Or maybe you can

Maybe you can remember that
Scab
You kept picking on

The bike ride
Gone terribly wrong

The miscalculated brave jumps
Of our youth
That left reminders
Of how fragile
And resistant
We can be

And so we unravel the gauze
And rub her belly and back

She takes it all in
Until she lets go of the need to
Lick the wound that
Screams for attention

In our living room
She notices
Here, too, we are calling
And the choice she must make:

which voices to tend to
And which urges to tame