How can I write? You silly cat
   Who sees life's tools as toys!
   I told you I'm serious! Leave me alone!
   Go away with your purrs and your ploys!

   "But Mama!" he protests with drooling chin.
   "Oh, Mama!" he dribbles on the sheet.
   That'll teach me to write in bed late at night --
   How can poems and snuggles compete?

   No, Binky won't settle for "Go away,
   Be comfy and self-sublime."
   He'll croon in my face 'till I sneeze in his,
   Then he'll steal my pen and my rhyme.

   Bless his heart! His insistence wins.
   He knows who has control!
   If poetry speaks of love or life,
   In my arms, Binky lives that goal.