Frank Stanford
All in a summer’s day
mangy kittens
with cross-eyed faces
the mama cat has an overbite
brothers and sisters
breeding each other
the black one sleeps
with the gray one’s tail
curled around his face
the kids are in the rec room
playing Lynyrd Skynyrd
with reggae riffs
Mama’s hands shot
from chopping
boxes of onions
kneading bread
tearing open ten thousand
packages of chicken legs
but here she is
opening cans of peaches
cans of corn
she’s gonna feed everyone
there’s a rabbit out back
in a chicken-wire cage
once it got away
the little kids chased it
some skint their knees
they practice kissing
in the trampoline
sweat all salt no spunk yet