Cat. Bounce. Rain.

“She got that Kitty-Cat! She know how to Bounce with it!”
“She got that kitty-Cat! She know how to Bounce with it!”

The DJ yelled that over and over again as he spun records on the turntable
He yelled it as I spun round and round that pole.

Men hooped and hollered.
Dollar bills rained.
And rained.
And rained.

I didn’t hear any of it.
As I swung round, and round and round that stripper pole.
Dollars raining, drowning out my tears.
Providing a light veil for my unspoken fears.
Soon it would be all over.

House lights on.
Adoring fans gone.
Only the sound of my careful footsteps, as I walked alone.
Just me and a pocketbook of dollars,
They'd be gone soon, evaporating like summer rain.

Silence displacing the accolades.
Replaced by the sound of my own breathing…
My cigarette ember glowing, gray smoke unfurling.
Smoothed out by the taste of my salty tears.

Cat once warm, now cool against the hard wooden bench as I awaited a cab home.
No bouncing as the sun came up over the horizon.
“There would be more cat, more bounce," I whispered as I took a long drag from my cigarette.
"There would be more rain tonight.”




From October 8, 2010 Women of Color Writing Group. Writing prompt: Write a verb and a noun on a card and place it into a basket. Participants pull a random card from basket and write for 10 minutes using the verb and noun they pulled. I pulled a card with the words "cat" and "bounce" written on it.

Hmmm... maybe I was suppose to write about Oscar-Tyrone! lol