Baby Kitten McBride (?-July 24, 2021) Vinn McBride, First Place
1/3 A kitten died on my sidewalk today. She (i don’t know, for sure, but i want i want her to be a she) She was small, and clean, flame pointed and little, with her legs stretched out like she was mid run and she was well fed. Somebody loved her– mama cat, or adoptive humans, someone wanted her, and she was a baby still– so small. She was so small. My mother came to bury her behind the log house i sleep in with its yard full of weeds and a landlord who has mostly forgotten it– i carried her little body so gentle, on a white paper plate and ignored the ants and the soft smell of decay setting in from the hot sun– my mother took up my shovel and we cleared a hole in the earth and i put her small, nameless body inside and covered her quietly. She was so small, and clean and just for a few minutes, loved as my own. Baby McBride, like so many before her
[ 84 ]