Heat and the Hunt

Two cats
furry and soft
an equals sign
in front of the heat.
They know their place,
these self-coddling kittens.
They nose out their place
and claim their own places.
She gets the best spot,
my pert alpha kitty,
who dommes her mom and her
mouse of a brother.
But he gets his.
Or tries to,
when hormones ignore
the surgeon’s quick snip.
Lectures on incest
don’t seem to faze him.
Protocol ignored,
past failures forgotten,
he’ll prove he’s a man
or a tom
or a dom.
He throws himself on her
he gets her by the neck
his teeth
her throat
howls and moans and hisses…
She shakes him off,
her tail a kielbasa
too bristled to eat.
It happens every time.
But there is always a next time.
Men.
They never learn.
But then, neither do I.