Lesson hidden in a cat’s eye

She likes to hide in strange places, setting me
up for moments of fear, letting it get to me.

I start off nonchalant, she’s in the house somewhere
then worry creeps up, fretting me.

I peel shelves apart, peep into
sinks, wetting me.

Worries stack up. Can’t find what I can’t find
and worry is heat, sweating me.

Grey thoughts grow and with each minute
grey thoughts post bills, indebting me.

And then the beast is found, eyes coin-bright in the dark:
I hear what they’re telling me.

Cats are like happiness. They flit but I’ll find them
they seek us out like fishermen, netting me.
 


When you are levitated

This poetry thing is a young one’s game. Something you inflict upon
the world, preferably before the springtime of your twenties runs out.

Poetry is turning the sod. Turning bad moments, like coins
into the head of a queen, one you throttle and rub in your pocket.

A dirty ghost rattling the bars of a Faraday Cage; deathless. 
You want a word? Deathless. When you are levitated

by an uppercut and afraid of crash-landing, instead tether
your wrists to commuting ducks, a lost balloon, anything.

So you can keep floating. Urgent and free as pollen
in the warming air. That’s what we are talking about.
A young one’s game. Something to keep winter away. 


Humankind
“Calculating the number of people who have ever lived 
is part science and part art.” — Population Reference Bureau

The algebra is tough.
How many of us have been here, under
unchanging skies and a moon waxing
fat to thin, hollowing itself 
before the return.
The statistician cooks up equations
the painter paints the steam 
and neither touches truth.

The question (did you see?) is a trick. 
It’s not how many of us 
have walked the earth. It’s how many
have known the key is to be kind.

About the author:

Daniel Seifert has been published in The New York Times, Consequence, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and the anthology Missed Connections: Microfiction From Asia. In 2023 he was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and longlisted for the Letter Review Prize. He lives in Singapore, and is working on a novel. Wish him luck on Twitter @DanSeifwrites. 

Feature image by Oleksandr Dorokhov on Unsplash