Tucked into a sliver of sunlight, my cat dreams 
beside me, paws twitching, jaw trembling,
eyes fluttering beneath orange
lids.  Maybe in slumber she splatters
scarlet across canvas, remembering how she ripped sutures
from her paws and painted beige car seats bloodred,
or perhaps in fantasies she feasts
upon flimsy phone cords and loose shoelaces, pesky spray bottles banished
to reality.  In her dreams, she could be a fearsome tigress
speeding through thick jungle without walls to impede her rampage,
her pitiful mewl traded for beastly roar, her claws poised to rake prey’s
flesh.  

Or maybe she just dreams about tomorrow,
how she’ll snuggle in that same swatch of sun and snooze
the afternoon away.