Prompted by Poet's Place Cafe

Tom's Alley Imitation or Projacking

Tom's Alley

He crouches on a rusty garbage lid,
witness
to the alley’s transgressions
the shadows,
the debris,
the stink
of stale booze and urine.

The tinkle-clank of a glass
bottle rolls across the alley-way
while he stalks
a long tailed rat
darting from the basement
of an adjacent building.

Later he grooms himself
licking his feral fur
and rubbing his scared face
with his paws,
wary of approaching angry voices.

An escalation of shouts and screams
startles him from his perch
and he ducks
beneath discarded boxes.

A grizzled man throws a skinny girl
against a wall and stabs her twice.
Blood spatters Tom's hide-away.

With a yeowl,
he skitters from his sanctuary

into the silence of the night.
         ~~Judi Van Gorder


Note: ▼

28 Lines
Free Verse with diminishing number of lines in each subsequent stanza.
Inspired by "March 22 The Fly by Miroslav Holub" 
Written for "DISCUSSION: Imitation "   at

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~ The Poet's Place Cafe~  (E) A place for discussion on poetry, reviews, contests, etc. #1937709 by Dave