The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 25

DAY 25: I live on a hill

in a fifth-floor apartment

I haven't been outside in 25+ days

I look down and out the window

-- cats

I look up and across the straits

-- seagulls.

Seagulls and cats

they like the peace

no traffic, no disturbance

they get enough to eat

the females are in heat

the males follow them around

I see quiet cats looking down

asleep on the tin-roofs of shacks

jumping on parked cars

leaving a paw-mark on the dust

their lives are better, more generous

thanks to our disappearance.

The seagulls soar, dip and

dive for plentiful fish snacks

squawk whenever they like

they can hear one another's

voice again, no they don't recall

a time when all was this easy

peaceful, natural, lovely

free -- the young have no

idea how things once were.

So, the only sounds I hear outside right now

are cat steps and gull wing flaps --

oh, no, there goes another ambulance.