DEATH Poem: String, by Johnny Byutorie

I can’t forget the little wound of you
I see the magnetic strip of it happening
On repeat in sodium lights of memory
In moments of taxing grief
That murder so minuscule
Haunts my thoughts.

But I saw it happen
In the night
In the rain
In the headlights of my car
And the oncoming truck that—
I watched it die.

I saw the small cat, little more than a kitten
Crossing the street
In the night,
in the rain,
In the lights of the oncoming truck that hit—
It broke me.

I watched it unzip before my eyes
Like some macabre magic trick
Its body opened like a purse
In the rainy night
In the headlights of my car.

It fell five feet in front of me
Fighting, shuddering, clawing at the air
With confusion, pain, desperation
And then

It stopped.

And there was just
The rain
And the night
And the headlights illuminating
The overwhelming silence cast in bronze.

And the night and the rain—
They never stopped.