1470 West -Friday night
by Molly Smith

The only interesting person
In this place tonight
Is that spiked punk-rawker
With angry male angst
On the stage, microphone in hand
He screams repetitively
“I’ll kill you… so you become me”
“I’ll kill you… so you become me”
“I’ll kill you… so you become me”

I listen intently, clove in hand
Until my mind wanders
To that Sunday morning in
Albany, NY in the
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Of Albany Medical Center
When my 16 day old daughter
Decided to die

As I held her lifeless body
In my arms
Suddenly it made sense
Why cats eat their young
How flesh becomes flesh

And right then
I became a momma cat
Wanting to stuff my baby’s tiny body
Into my mouth
Swallow her whole
So she would never, ever leave

Molly Smith is a an extremist who writes to curb the racket in her brain. She is the editor of Failed Seeker, a poetry 'zine based out of Dayton, Ohio. Comments on her work can be addressed to alterochelyosef@juno.com.