Our stray cat doesn’t know
“ghoul” is Arabic for

“seize.” The snow might drown us,
but today I clutch my wife

like a coat. Passed out drunk
in snowdrifts, men freeze faster

than women. I ask my ghost
how a pineapple can be

both a fruit and a plant.
He’ll confiscate my nightmares

like footprints in sand.
The cat spends no energy.