the king of cats resides in
Hollow Street Books in old downtown
an excellent place
for his human devotees to pay homage to
his greatness and for his feline subordinates
to visit during the night. his favorite places
in the shop vary by the season
he loves the embroidered velvet skirt beneath
the Christmas tree, but also enjoys
sleeping curled around the giant menorah
in the bay window. otherwise he favors
any open spots on lower shelves
around the store, or lounging upon the
expensive atlas no one will ever buy

quite often he leaves dead mice and
and newborn dragons on the front welcome mat
which fortunately is red. his cordial
relationship with the resident
brownies means they communicate as needed
such as when they alerted him about
the frozen pipes last winter, inspiring him
to yowl and pace circles to inform the humans
when they entered in the morning. he takes
security seriously all the day long.
the time a loud-mouthed man was ready
to set so-called offensive books on fire
lives in legend, as the king
latched onto the man's bare calves with
eager teeth and claws

ferocious though he may be, the king
loves his people and his belly
is not a trap. he will stretch out
to accept tummy scritches and purr
loud enough to be heard from a room away.
as the stories on the surrounding shelves assert
a good king is one to be loved and respected
and he is indeed
a good king