Every time I open a new book of poetry, I am filled with hope that I will fall in love. More often than not, it's like those coffee dates at Starbucks that never progress to dinner, you manage to get through the hour, but there will be no going back for seconds. With Tamara Madison’s Wild Domestic, new this week from Long Beach’s PEARL Editions, I knew the love would last, as I have had the privilege of seeing the poems from early draft to publication in literary magazines and now, together in a book. This is Ms. Madison’s first full-length collection and it is terrific. I invite you to fall in love too. It’s okay; there is enough love for us all.
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Wild Domestic
Find out what's happening in Belmont Shore-Napleswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
When it rains, the cats come in
to claim the comforts
of their entitlement:
spending days and nights curled
on a warm bed, doing nothing
while the dog, who only wants
to know them, paws at the door.
Raindrops swarm on the roof
the soaked ground sucks
at our footsteps. The cats lie about
entwined, too old now
even for the dinosaur dance
the fight game of their youth.
They nibble at their tinned prey
and even condescend
to use the litter box.
One black morning
they decide there’s something
they need to do out there;
they scratch at the door and scurry out
into the shifting scrim of rain.
I drive home later to find
the wilder one, the one with crooked tail
waiting by the door – a bird clenched
motionless in his mouth.
He will not suffer my appreciation
hurries instead to his garage
encampment. This is the work
of wild things, which I need not know about.
Inside, the dog who only wants
to know them, listens