Apartment so miniscule there’s no kitchen,
we warmed tins on hot plates,
ate in the tub where Mom chloroformed
then tossed kittens in the Hudson.
On the walk back she mumbled something
about her cats being sadists.
We did have a very specific relationship,
but aren’t they all?
Ignoring the slumlord, Ma warned,
Don’t trust anyone, not even me.
* * *
Gerard Sarnat has authored two critically acclaimed poetry collections, 2010’s “HOMELESS CHRONICLES from Abraham to Burning Man” and 2012’s “Disputes.” Gerry’s published or is forthcoming in over 80 journals and anthologies. Harvard and Stanford educated, Gerards’s a physician who’s set up and staffed clinics for the disenfranchised, a CEO of health care organizations, and a Stanford professor. For “The Huffington Post” review of his work and more; visit GerardSarnat.com.
Contraposition 