My Cat Eats Carnitas

Karen Cline-Tardiff

September 15, 2024

I catch him sneaking out 

late at night to the

taco stand down the street.

I’ve given him every brand of

cat food from HEB, from crunchy

to soft and soft middles,

But still I find his greasy

little paw prints on the

rug every morning.

Maybe the taco vendor feels

sorry for him, my cat singing

for his supper in tune with the AM

Tejano crackling from the radio.

He must be ordering in 

some secret sign language,

his tail swishing left

and right in Taco Code.

He gobbles up those crispy

little pieces of pork without

the need for a tortilla.

I wonder if he uses salsa,

or a little pico de gallo

covering those carnitas.

Maybe it only bothers me 

because he never asks

if I want to tag along.

Karen Cline-Tardiff has been writing as long as she could hold a pen. Her works have appeared in several anthologies and journals, both online and in print. She stays up too late and snoozes her alarm past any reasonable time. She is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Gnashing Teeth Publishing.