Poetry by Emalisa Rose

“Our mutual arrangement”
             By Emalisa Rose

They hang out all day;

on the branch, off the branch.

Joe says to stop feeding them;
they need to make bank on their own.

I told him it’s the mama in me,
with a strong urge to feed, with a
penchant for songbirds and alley cats.

Marie has her wings in position,
singing south of the sycamore, she
bathes in the sunlight’s redemption.

I toss out the sparrow seed and wait
for the passerines to inspire some poems
for me.


“That indoor/outdoor cat dilemma”
             By Emalisa Rose

You’d cry by the window -
looking out from within.

This was the world you’d been born into
though you ravished my home cooking,
happy to come in most nights.

I put up some signs, with your photo;
that one with your holiday bowtie.

I called all the shelters and
put your name in the database.

I sent out some prayers,
then faced the hard truth -

I can no longer protect you

“the twelve nights of tofu”
             By Emalisa Rose

It’s been promoted as ‘versatile’

taking on the flavor of what it’s
consolidated with,

the ‘meat’ of the stir fry, over
easy, in a mimic of egg whites
and toast with a big slab of it --
butter forsaken, of course.

Sunday night specials, when less
is more and the fridge has worked
overtime, with nothing much left
in the freezer.

It’s surely diversified. I’ve even
swallowed it whole with a sprinkle
of hot sauce. Or straight from the
square of its red and white box
where it celebrates life in.

But mostly, truthfully, I love that no
living being, suffered in the making
of my dinner; that i can look down
at the plate and not find the eyes of
an animal, looking right back at me.

- When not writing poetry, Emalisa Rose enjoys crafting. During the pandemic, she discovered a love for birding and now helps to lead a group in her neighborhood state park's bimonthly birders’ walk. She lives by a beach town, which provides much of the inspiration for her art. Becoming a vegan was a natural and resonating life choice for her, over a couple of decades ago. Her poems have appeared in Cholla Needles, Literary Nest, Open Arts Forum and other journals.

                        Copyright©2021 by Emalisa Rose. All Rights Reserved.