#claws
Pretty Paisley pads around
Her paws so sweet and light
She’ll purr and wind around your legs
Then give you u such a fright!
One moment she’s affectionate and you’re her favourite thing, then suddenly the claws come out and on your arm she’ll cling!
But with her pretty eyes, she invites you back once more....
You never know how far she’ll go....
Attack you or adore?
Feb 10
Feb 10, 2026 at 7:23 AM UTC
next to the flat
the neighbourhood
tabby swatting at
the drain.
sinewed fur-lined,
feline; finding
some poor animal
in a cage
outside its making.
i can’t see
below the earth.
the poor thing,
fighting.
Dec 18, 2023
Dec 18, 2023 at 9:35 AM UTC
a statue quietly lurks
in the corner of my mind,
waiting until all is calm.
when the dark shroud
falls over the blue sky,
the statue comes to life
as a vicious, fang-bearing,
red-eyed, gnarly demon.
the demon pulls a dream apart
with its long, pointy claws,
injecting the shreds with poison
until they tangle up in each other
to become a tight, infectious knot
that can only be untangled...by waking up.
Apr 19, 2021
Apr 19, 2021 at 12:34 AM UTC
Dear pussycat, you clever little beast
To hide the paws that hid the claws
That shred my pretty face.
Feline, fooled as I was to forget
Within your blood wildness simmered
Just beneath the folds and crease;
Of eyes that looked asleep!
Oct 18, 2020
Oct 18, 2020 at 3:15 PM UTC
I would claim that I've been lied to
say that I have been wronged
tell you that I didn't deserve it.
But I did.
I was born with hooked claws
and sharp teeth. Black eyes
and a scaled hide
the chains around my neck clink and tap
against the spines I've grown
If you look close enough I'll sprout horns
perhaps lightning will crackle
in the corners of my mouth.
Can you see me for what I am?
A miscount, a fatal error
something bound for hell mistakenly wrapped
and hidden in human skin.
I still smell like smoke, and I still taste like war
I deserve no mercy and kindness will **** me.
What a stupid thing I have been,
to convince myself that I was anything other
than a car crash and a hurricane
In human skin.
My sin was to love and break with the same hands
to admire that which I would defile
and to trust those who promised sanctuary.
Under the guise of friends
they penned my story,
gave me my name, cast my role:
A Villain
A devil
And so I'll stretch my blackened lips
run my tongue over my teeth
and smile with the tears running down my cheek.
"hail satan"
Jun 18, 2020
Jun 18, 2020 at 6:58 AM UTC
The cover never tells the truth,
for every story... has papercuts
when you've turned the page.
Every fable can tell a tale,
some sweet as pie, but not all apples are
syrupy, some putrefy from the core.
For this cover shows her reading,
while rabbits playfully play.
Not one for ill suspense..
The book was different ways to
cook rabbit, she knew they
attended this spot.
Know your pray,
Remember that to be at ease
gives them a false sense of passivity.
Now when your ready, make your move..
The best practice is to scare, for a moment of
uncertainty will make then scatter in directions
not uniformed..
With that she slammed the books pages together,
startled bunnies ran in all directions...
The ground around sewn with steel teeth
awaiting
gentle steps to snap shut...
She stood up proud, that the book was true,
not all tales are fairy tales some are truthful.
As a few were still squirming, she did an act
of kindness, the book heavy as it came down.
The family will feed well tonight,
she had to wipe off the fur
but there were plenty more stories
of how to capture and create
that fairy tale meal..
May 1, 2020
May 1, 2020 at 5:32 PM UTC
Huntress
by Michael R. Burch
after Baudelaire
Lynx-eyed, cat-like and cruel, you creep
across a crevice dropping deep
into a dark and doomed domain.
Your claws are sheathed. You smile, insane.
Rain falls upon your path, and pain
pours down. Your paws are pierced. You pause
and heed the oft-lamented laws
which bid you not begin again
till night returns. You wail like wind,
the sighing of a soul for sin,
and give up hunting for a heart.
Till sunset falls again, depart,
though hate and hunger urge you—On!
Heed, hearts, your hope—the break of dawn.
Originally published by Sonnetto Poesia. Keywords/Tags: Baudelaire, cat, catlike, cruel, creep, creeping, claws, paws, talons, huntress, heart, prey, hate, hunger, alliteration, sonnet
Apr 5, 2020
Apr 5, 2020 at 3:25 AM UTC
the witch
by michael r. burch
her fingers draw into claws
she cackles through rotting teeth ...
u ask “are there witches?”
pshaw!
(yet she has my belief)
Keywords/Tags: witch, witches, Halloween, fingers, nails, claws, talons, cackle, cackles, teeth, rotting, rotten, broom, broomstick, cat
Apr 1, 2020
Apr 1, 2020 at 4:07 AM UTC
Polish
by Michael R. Burch
Your fingers end in talons—
the ones you trim to hide
the predator inside.
Ten thousand creatures sacrificed;
but really, what’s the loss?
Apply a splash of gloss.
You picked the perfect color
to mirror nature’s law:
red, like tooth and claw.
I thought about titling or subtitling this one “A mini-ode to manicure” but thought better of it. Please note that this poem is not about female predators but the way the human race “glosses over” its predatory nature. We may appear to be “civilized” but what are we doing to the planet and its other inhabitants? Keywords/Tags: polish, nails, talons, claws, predator, gloss, loss, red, tooth, claw, pollution, climate change, global warming, mass extinction, genocide
Apr 1, 2020
Apr 1, 2020 at 3:58 AM UTC
distraction can touch
touch in manners that are not familiar
memory claws will reach out
touching with thoughts forgotten
past awareness may re-enter
making effort to build on those remembrances
Brian Hill - 2020 # 28
Jan 28, 2020
Jan 28, 2020 at 4:29 PM UTC
The lizard made its way straight up the rock wall
Such adhesion on those rocks with his fragile-looking claws
What was he running from, or to, with such desert dignity
What would you call the motions of these little creatures
Bodies moving back and forth like other slithering reptiles
Fascinating....
Brian Hill - 2019 # 251
Oct 8, 2019
Oct 8, 2019 at 9:46 AM UTC
There's no one without flaws,
Like a paw without claws,
Fall seven,stand eight,
You are not your mistake,
Learn from it,
Before it's too late,
It's ok to fall,
To cry and bleed through it all,
It'll all make sense in the end,
Trust the journey,my friend.
Aug 8, 2019
Aug 8, 2019 at 12:42 PM UTC
I have never claimed to be perfect.
I always admit to my flaws,
but somehow they can always force me to show my claws.
So I take a break.
I quickly pause,
because if I stop.
I will shatter from their barbed jaws.
Jul 17, 2019
Jul 17, 2019 at 1:01 AM UTC
Paralyzed with possibility;
These choices stun something within me.
Yearning to grasp what it is I want,
Whilst keeping myself chained. A taunt.
The animal within stirs up a chorus of growls,
The innocence slips past that thought which fouls.
My claws are sharp. My teeth, the same.
I am one who can not be tamed.
Jul 8, 2019
Jul 8, 2019 at 10:23 PM UTC
Owning a cat relies on give and take.
I give the beans a tiny squeeze and
she takes a chunk of my skin.
Jun 26, 2019
Jun 26, 2019 at 12:52 PM UTC
beware of those
who
smile with sharp teeth,
gaze with arrows
and greet with claws.
theirs shadows cover
their souls.
-May Colde
Jun 3, 2019
Jun 3, 2019 at 4:32 PM UTC
His spectral stride was not the worst of him.
His stoic face was a flawless slab of stone.
His rending claws slipped idly within his pockets.
As if extensions of his sheathed talons, on either side of the ghoul was a hound of hell.
The beasts could not look more different, save for their crimson eyes which sang of the gallows.
The worst had indeed arrived.
Each patient step glided after the other.
With no word, with no tempo, with no sign.
The dance of grimaced howls and fangs began.
May 12, 2019
May 12, 2019 at 12:13 AM UTC
A monster has crept up on me,
Claws are at my neck.
Part of me wants to fight,
Part of me wants to succumb.
These claws rip and tear at me with a question--
"What more could you have done?"
Nov 6, 2018
Nov 6, 2018 at 8:14 PM UTC
You're keeping secrets under your pillow,
They slither through the gaps in the duck feathers,
Until they reach the cotton barrier,
Trying to claw out at your head,
Ever wondered why you get those migraines?
You've tricked yourself into wearing a halo,
Crocodile tears with an alligators grin,
As fake as the make-up you wear,
A smile and a twirl,
Is that all you think it takes to fool a crowd?
You're not an angel, you can barely fly,
You may see clouds, but your feet are on the ground,
It's only your head that's where you think you are,
Your wings are sown on, and the stitches are weak,
How many have you tricked in total?
You think you've won but I can see the devil in your eyes.
A lingering dark stare, puffy and blood shot,
Claws at the ready, tearing into flesh that knows you well,
A war raging on your tongue when you've been found out,
You think I'm docile to every thought you have?
You seem to forget.
Oct 5, 2018
Oct 5, 2018 at 7:45 AM UTC
Guys like broken girls
because they are no pillow princesses.
They are raging animals in cages
waiting for any bite
of raw meat they can put their claws in.
Aug 5, 2018
Aug 5, 2018 at 5:48 PM UTC
death is a tiny girl in pink —
with yellow hair
and stick legs -
coming out at twilight , she
knocks
on your door with her claws in a fist
and
smiles wide at you
from the
dark.
.
.
a wolf in sheeps hide ,
but
she is only
a
sheep
(not even)
and
she wants to hold your hand .
.
Jul 14, 2018
Jul 14, 2018 at 6:05 PM UTC
Heartbreak forced through the cracks,
Dripping heavy ichor, drip drops interminable.
Muscles and veins shredded,
Caught on rough stone edges.
Pulled by strings attached to your sharpened claws.
I scream soundless,
Beg for the end with my thoughts.
Beg for these dreams to vanish into the day.
Jun 12, 2018
Jun 12, 2018 at 3:22 AM UTC
Thoughts come and go, but some of these
stick to the walls like they are meant to remain
in the furthest corners of things I have loved the most;
do not do this to me again
I don't think I can handle another tragedy tonight
Don't punctuate this with finality, the kiss of death in the eyes of those (me)
who would prefer to keep those lions
asleep
for a few days more, or forever...
Don't bring fate into this, fate never
did **** for any of us. I'm cutting
holes in my sentences to avoid
the sharp edges that might trip you up or
break your heart- whichever
suits the climate better.
Speaking of, how did you decide between
what to keep and what to throw away when you took
those photos out of their frames?
Could you look your darkness in the eye and tell me
it's beautiful, even as it scrapes
its claws along the soft spots of my conscience?
Do me a favor,
tear me apart
more quickly next time.
Apr 14, 2018
Apr 14, 2018 at 12:53 AM UTC
you see it crawling to you
reaching out and dragging you down
you let it
and you love it
till the claws dig in and the sun disappears
and you know what happens next
Apr 10, 2018
Apr 10, 2018 at 11:46 AM UTC
With evil claws and teeth I chew the little wicked knights I slew. They enter one by one, as I burn them down to the ground for fun.
My fiery breath I breathe to melt their shields upon their feet and open my maw to eat my treats, oh what tasty meats.
Bring me more gold my shiny fearless little hunks of meat for I am to be feared the dragon which is revered.
I cannot be slain I will not be tamed for I am the red dragon that is renowned in fame.
Mar 31, 2018
Mar 31, 2018 at 1:21 PM UTC