Mornings begin with the scratch
and rattle of claws against wood,
chaos seeping with fervor
into the void of night.
He plants his feet reluctantly
onto a floor bathed in the chill
of a disappearing moon,
tails sweeping in and out of
precarious spaces between his ankles.
It is a long walk to the kitchen,
where the hiss of an opening
can awakens a cacophony of hunger,
mingled with chords of impatience.
A spoon clanking against glass sets
the rhythm for notes of anticipation.
He fills the bowls and places
them on the branches of the tree.
Quiet settles into plump warm fullness.
Susan Richardson is living, writing and going blind in Hollywood. She was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa in 2002 and much of her work focuses on her relationship to the world as a partially sighted woman. In addition to poetry, she writes a blog called “Stories from the Edge of Blindness”. Her work has been published in: Stepping Stones Magazine, Wildflower Muse, The Furious Gazelle, The Hungry Chimera, Sheila-Na-Gig, Chantarelle’s Notebook, Foxglove Journal, Literary Juice and Sick Lit Magazine, with pieces forthcoming in Amaryllis. She was also awarded the Sheila-Na-Gig Winter Poetry Prize.
Natalie Crick, from the UK, has poetry published or forthcoming in a range of journals and magazines including Interpreters House, Ink In Thirds, The Penwood Review, The Chiron Review and Rust and Moth. Her work also features or is forthcoming in a number of anthologies, including Lehigh Valley Vanguard Collections 13. This year her poem ‘Sunday School’ was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Seth Jani currently resides in Seattle, WA and is the founder of Seven CirclePress (
Francesca Leone is a 24-year-old living in Rome, Italy. She writes in English at 
Foxglove Journal 