Painted Cat by Michael Lee Johnson

In case you can't read the text:

Painted Cat

By Michael Lee Johnson

The painted cat

on my balcony

hangs in the sun,

bleaches out

it is wooden

survival kit,

cut short-

then rots

chips

paint,

cracks

widen in joints,

no infant sparrow wings

nestled in the hole

beneath its neck-

then falls down.

No longer a swinger

in latter days, August wind.

Michael Lee Johnson lived ten years in Canada during the Vietnam era. Today he is a poet, freelance writer, photographer, and small business owner in Itasca, Illinois.  He has been published in more than 875 small press magazines in twenty-seven countries, and he edits 9 poetry sites.    Author's website http://poetryman.mysite.com/  He has over 70 poetry videos on YouTube:   https://www.youtube.com/user/poetrymanusa/videos