A twisted zipper backbone;
bottle top bones linked
by chewing gum tendons,
elastic stretching to the rim of the yard;
newspapers worn to a velvet nap;
syringe points as clattering claws.

Trash cat born of shadows
yowling as it views a world
beyond its rag-tag flesh;
until its uncrushed cigarette heart
smoulders to the filter.
All the moments of its life burning
to fading blindness and collapse.

Then the wind stirs the garbage,
and a worn woman throws another cigarette.