The Cat of Nabeshima
by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff

curled up on your chest
as your breathing slows in sleep
I purr harmonies
why did you never wonder
that your kitten has two tails?

will your love notice
the grave outside your window?
I promise to soothe him
your stolen voice as gentle
as my velvet covered paws

night birds sing sweetly
jasmine scents the midnight breeze
you do not notice
my claws knead at your tresses
as I nuzzle your soft throat

Marcie Lynn Tentchoff is an Aurora Award winning poet/writer from the West Coast of Canada. She lives with her family in a house surrounded by acres of green trees and bramble bushes, where cats, cougars, birds, bear, raccoons and other critters, both wild and semi-domesticated, prowl. Marcie's work has appeared in such publications as Weird Tales, On Spec, Aeon, Mythic Delirium, and Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic. She edits for Mindflights, Spaceports & Spidersilk, and Aberrant Dreams. Her first poetry collection, Sometimes While Dreaming, is available through Sam's Dot Publishing. Marcie's previous poems for Raven Electrick are Spider Silk and After the Change.