her ninth life - started
the moment she escaped
it was a momentary pain
as she flew straight up
then gently descended
down: the pain started
again as she was pushed
out, her shoulders
squeezed, her hips
slipping past as her feet
lifted: and she cried, piercing: a remembrance
of the moment she crossed, the brightness of
the lights, the coldness of the hands, the ebbing
of the distance in sound. - years later she would
own a cat: a stubby one, the kind that thought
round was a shape.
