MESSENGER

The other cat said to my dying father

"There is a trolley now which starts

From near your house in 1938

And stops at Kamianka Strumilowa around 1893

You will find coins in the left pocket

Of the suit in which they bury you;

Pay three fares; I and another

Will be travelling with you."

CAT AND OTHER CAT

Since they generally had only one at a time

The cats in my father’s family weren’t named

But simply called the cat. When one wandered off

Or found religion or hopped into Death’s satchel

Another turned up, sent, from some agency

Which keeps track of such things. Once, the agency

Made an error and two cats came together.

They were called the cat and the other cat

And both made a point of meeting my father,

As if by chance, when he came home from school.