Brooklyn #1 (for Karen Good)

You are
allergic
to cats
but still
you house
one
an HIV
infected
cat
with
no teeth.

You take
her outside
& let her
roll
under
pure
sunlight
as you sniffle
and rub
your itchy
eyes.

I look
at you &
once again,
not for the
first time
& certainly
not the last...
declare
in my heart

that
you are
my hero
& I thank
the ancestors
for bringing
two sisters
home,
together
again
in this land
called
Brooklyn.