Stalking the Wild Q-Tip

by Diana Essert

for Panda Bustopher Brumley

Claws click on tile
preparing to pounce
behind the door.
Teased, flipped in the air,
a make-believe mouse,
bashed around the sinktop.
Vitamins, toothpaste,
perfume go flying.
Cotton tufts wafting
in steamy sunlit shafts of light.

Elusive object
lost for days
beneath the bathroom scale
reappears
during a morning shower
landing suddenly at my feet,
one white paw
over the tub-edge
in pursuit.

Finally,
firmly captured
between paws,
Panda dozes,
dreaming of tomorrow's hunt.