Dreaming of Cheetahs

 Reported in the UK Daily Mail:
The incredible scene was captured by German photographer Chris Du Plessis, when he was shooting wildlife in a South African animal conservation area, a cheetah came to him quietly and lay there...

For some reason, the Cheetah has long been my favorite wild cat.  Something about the face.

Anyway, on this chilly and rainy April night, I post a poem about, not this photo, but dreaming of Cheetahs.

Dreaming of Cheetahs

I stand in the bedroom of my childhood.

I open up my pencil case

and find

a living Cheetah and a wolverine

freeze-dried and condensed there.

I take them out and watch

as they grow into their real size.

They begin to fight each other

with much snarling and lunging.

I wonder which one will win.

I think it will be the Cheetah.

I stand on the porch of a house

I do not recognize.

I see a Cheetah running out of the woods,

running swiftly

directly at me.

I stay where I am. The Cheetah

curls up beside me and

puts her head in my lap.

I pet her. She begins to purr.

I am a cheater.

I wear cheaters,

glasses currently broken

at the stem,

glasses that can’t wipe off

the grey slipper in my left eye.