the sea, unvisited
the cat, she’s bathing by the window
fat calico jammed up onto the sill
as a passenger plane roars overhead
you just know someone’s
on that plane in need
of a good shower
but then the microwave beeps,
you were using it for a timer
but what on earth for,
what were you trying to time,
what were you timing
and now your clothes
are clean but wrinkled
what distracted you
someone on the radio
mentions a thing about
provocation, a saber rattled
over a green sea you’ll never visit
another voice is heard
chiming in that the Presidency
shouldn’t normally be thought of
as an entry-level position
the calico is now around your feet
affection or alert or asking for something
and how long have you been standing still
in this kitchen
Rich Boucher resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rich’s poems have appeared in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Menacing Hedge, Cultural Weekly, Soft Cartel, Gargoyle and The Nervous Breakdown, among others, and he has work forthcoming in antinarrative journal, Drunk Monkeys, Street Poet Review and the “Walls” edition of the Poets Speak anthology. For more, please visit richboucher.bandcamp.com. He loves his life with his love Leann.