THE BONSAI CATS

In an e-mail from the secretary
of the linguistics department
I heard about the bonsai cats. A cruel Japanese
is raising them in bottles in New York.

Food is inserted into their prisons through a straw
and excretions are extracted in the same way.
All this, as noted, is to sell
bottled cats as souvenirs.

At the end of the message there was a petition,
against advertising the souvenirs
and marketing them.

I immediately signed the petition
and passed it along to 70 good people.

In response my electronic mailbox
locked down
for 24 hours.

Later, my brother wrote to me
that the bonsai cats were a hoax.

Apparently there is no limit
to how sick people can be
and who am I to talk?

I open the window of the book
to a new collection of poems,
and the clear horizon opens wide
with animals and without people.

חתולי בונזאי

חתולי בונזאי