By Button Poetry
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Sarah Kay, performing at Phil Kaye’s book release show at The Bell House in Brooklyn, NY.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:01
I am too young
00:05
And too New York City
00:08
to know that this is a raccoon
00:14
Staring back at me through the sliding glass door
00:18
of my uncle’s house
00:20
It could just as easily be a cat
00:22
who has not gotten enough sleep lately
00:25
Or a cat who got popped one in the nose
00:28
and earned himself two shiners
00:30
which might be what he earns again
00:32
if he keeps digging through the trash cans on the porch.
00:35
I’m too young and too alone in the den
00:39
to know not to slide open the glass door
00:43
for a closer look
00:44
While the grown-ups are cleaning up dinner in the kitchen
00:47
and the cousins are shooting at ducks on a TV screen
00:50
with a plastic orange gun
00:52
that they do not share with me
00:53
I’m too young and too small to scare him
00:57
So he does not run
00:58
just holds tight the scrap of fish skin he has found
01:02
and I know that cats
01:04
like fish
01:07
But I have never seen a cat stand on his hind legs before
01:12
and so maybe this is a
01:16
Magic cat
01:18
I am young enough to know that
01:20
if you meet a magic cat you must bring him a gift
01:23
and so even though he already has some fish
01:26
I offer him my plate
01:28
which I was taking to the grown-ups in the kitchen
01:30
But now serve with both hands as an offering
01:34
The magic cat hops down from the railing
01:37
and now we are face to face
01:41
and now
01:42
two more tiny magic cats appear from out of the dark
01:46
and they are all sharing my gift together
01:49
And for a moment I
01:52
am a sorceress
01:54
Because after the magic cats
01:56
come the magic fairies I know
01:59
and the dragons and the wolves and the ninjas
02:03
and the spies, the adventures and the quests
02:06
for a moment everything is possible
02:09
and here and licking at my plate
02:11
and I am lost in the darkest eyes
02:14
and softest fur and then
02:18
Everyone is screaming behind me
02:21
And the cats disappear
02:23
and the plate is taken from my hands
02:25
And the trash is double bagged
02:27
and the lids are weighed down with rocks
02:29
and the glass door is locked
02:31
and the uncles are shaking their heads
02:33
and the cousins are laughing
02:34
and the ants are trying to explain
02:36
the difference between a pet and a wild animal
02:39
and I’m so young. It’s so
02:43
embarrassed and so
02:46
painfully unmagic
02:50
And later when I’m old enough to know
02:53
The animals you can keep from the ones you cannot
02:58
when I’m old enough to know a cat from a raccoon
03:03
a sorceress from a lonely girl
03:06
magic from survival
03:09
Later, when you knock on my glass door
03:14
and come in from out of the dark night
03:17
Is it any wonder that for one entirely holy moment
03:23
I am sure
03:24
That I have seen you
03:26
somewhere before
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video
