Meow Rosary

3:07 again, rain re-reading the braille Your voicemail on loop,

41 seconds of hail Then a weight on my chest — Miss

Minou, ship's cat Purring 25 hertz right over the hurt,

just like that 396 in the 'u',

the room is heavy and dim She kneads the static out,

I let the water rim

528 in the 'a',

the salt begins to move

Tears are just the ocean practicing its groove

She head-bunts my wrist,

deposits her scent

A co-regulation contract, one hundred percent

Lucir, I shine, but tonight the light is wet Soul-drenched in the

Harbor, fully felt, no regret

100% Tiguidou, even when I break The Lead-Lining holds the flood for

my own sake Lucir,

I shine, let the vocal cry ascend I remain in the light,

soaked and shining to the end The voicemail ends.

The static bows.

She speaks the only language

cats kept just for humans

— eight meows,

eight permissions:

meow meow

meow meow meow

meow

meow meow

(Requinto answers each meow with a microtonal bend)

Baudelaire had a cat,

Eliot had a book But Minou's got the prosody,

the sovereign hook

Multisyllabic purr, pre-linguistic fire Dripping on the porthole,

shimmering on the wire

Executive Quinn files the rosary as law The smallest voice in the

room becomes the biggest paw

u...

I held it

a... I melted

i/e... I shine

meow...