by Ellen Gerneaux Woods

the moon reveals their presence   bright eyes like headlights   stride insistent   determined   the moon broadcasts their intention   they walk as a mass   push buggies   they are known as the cat ladies   the moon alone fills their prams   no children have blessed their lives   the childless cat ladies are out to play   the moon broadcasts their banners    a rumble becomes a roar as they chant   power to the childless cat ladies!   the moon smolders   feral cats howl   the feline parade expands to hundreds   they slink toward the strollers   leap in   the moon glows red   fury fills the air   claws extended   ready to attack   the cat ladies’ wild cats are out for blood

Ellen Gerneaux Woods writes poetry and memoir and is the author The Watchful Heart Recedes (Finishing Line Press, 2021) and Warriors in Transition (Word Project Press, 2014). Her work appears in literary journals including Persimmon Tree, Monterey Poetry Review, Blood and Thunder, Poems of Political Protest: An Anthology, Our California Inspirational Poems and the Marin Poetry Center Anthology. She was a judge in the prose poem category of the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition and is currently on the prose staff of The MacGuffin, a print journal.