Petting Mr. Sandberg’s Cat

Depression comes
on little cat feet
It curls its tail
around your ankles
rips into you with its claws
Leaves you in a silent fog

Gloria Heffernen is the author of the poetry collection What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List (New York Quarterly Books). She has written two chapbooks: Hail to the Symptom (Moonstone Press) and Some of Our Parts (Finishing Line Press). Her work has appeared in over fifty journals, including Anchor, Chautauqua, Stone Canoe, Columbia Review, and The Healing Muse. She teaches at Le Moyne College and the Syracuse YMCA’s Downtown Writers Center.