Little Black Dot

dear universe,
i am a sad cat.
do you have any cat treats for me?
i almost never ask. i hope you don't think i'm being greedy.
in exchange for a cat treat, i'll trade you
a metaphor (or an omen):
tonight i spent three hours carving the most elaborate pumpkin of my life
with a blunt paring knife: all the contours of janine's face.
when i finished i took it to the bathroom sink and scrubbed
all the ink off. the pumpkin smelled like tea tree oil because
that's the kind of soap they have.
then
on my way out to the living room, the pumpkin
slipped from my hands and broke all over the tile floor.
delicate cranium.
i almost cried but janine helped me reassemble it with shish kebab sticks.
it didn't look quite the same but when we put it outside to test it out
everyone admired the light candling through and said
it would never have glowed like this if you didn't have to
put it back together.
love,
chelsea