Poems by TEAH LEE-ANNE. KAYNE

Billy came through the cat door tonight
With the biggest catch I'd ever seen
It was so big he could hardly carry it
He had to drag it through his legs in between

I didn't have a clue what it was
It was yet to make a sound
It was big and black
With white polka dots
Running down the middle of its back

Before I could even guess
He'd dragged it quickly through his usual track
He slid under the bed without looking back

It was way too big to be a mouse
Or even a baby bird
It could have been a rat
But a rat without a tail would be absurd

Could it have been a ferret
But I would have smelt it first
Having a ferret under my bed
I couldn't think of anything worse

Maybe it was another cat
But I didn't hear a fight
With the thunderous day we'd just had
There would have been heaps of cats out tonight

This story is not as traumatic
As I've made it seem
I stretched my arms and rubbed my eyes
That was when the penny dropped
I'd just had a Billy dream

She has never wanted to meet her bio
It was her decision to make
I wasn't prepared to push the issue
There was far too much at stake

She knows his name, his phone number and his address
But she's not made any contact
As she gets older
I hope this desicion she will not regret

We took a chance and we paid the price
We'd both decided this was to be the last
The split between us was amicable
But when the shit hit the fan
It soon became intolerable

I only made the one demand
If I was to ever hear a denial
I would have him in court in a heartbeat
He would be supporting this child

I have never believed in coincidence
But I was forced to do a 180
He was going to be walking down the aisle
The exact same time as I was giving birth to our baby

Eventually I received the expected call
He wanted to meet my girl
My answer came quick and strong
Not on your bloody life
It was then I heard the extension
I was also talking to his wife

She wanted to know my daughter's birth date
I knew where this was heading
She was about to do the count-back
From the day of conception
To the day of her wedding

I told her what she wanted to know
It was no skin off my nose
You know what this means don't you
The phone went dead, methinks she froze

For 25 years he'd been lying to her
And foolishly she'd believed his story
But now that she knew the truth
Methinks he was about to go out in a blaze of not so much glory

A few years later we did a catch up
The years had been kinder to me
I was calm, cool and collected
Until we sat down for a cup of tea

If you've seen the film Jerry Maguire
You'd remember that famous line
'You Had Me At Hello'
The very first thing he said as he sat down
Was difficult to swallow

What he said rocked me to the core
He'd completely caught me off guard
No one has ever said that to me before

Did you bring any pics of OUR girl
My heart almost stopped beating
He's the only person who has the right to say that
In the whole God damn world