Orange cat stripes blur a narrow staircase, her turtle-backed sister close behind, far from sluggish, up and down they run a gauntlet of buzzing flies, knock into shut doors, disappear from view but never out of earshot. Up and down one staircase, becoming many steps and more steps, more doors, a winding labyrinth of ups and downs, of blurs and blips, chitters, thumps, scattering bugs. Wings and tails fan the air. In rapid descent, they wake a dozing dog, whose slow-motion head goes up then down. Unfazed by the interruption it closes its eyes with a groan. So many stairs and so awfully steep. The dog would rather sleep.
Early Morning Poems 