Saudi Arabia

There are no women here,

Just shapeless black cloth bags ignoring me

That drift like windblown plastic bags along the street.

So I must love the stray cats under cars,

Living in dust under parked cars on broken streets –

For they at least watch with big haunted eyes.

I find I dream of cats the size of women,

I stroke their fur,

They purr.

Published: Ambit 211, UK, January 2013