<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:3.0in;text-indent:.5in'><span style='color:#1F497D'>Hi, everyone, Leonard has told me that he had not received the poem I sent earlier in the month, so I am re-sending it in case anyone else needs it. Sally<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><b>From:</b> Group1 [mailto:group1-bounces@bluegrasspals.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Sally Rosenthal<br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, November 11, 2019 11:34 AM<br><b>To:</b> sanford.rosenthal@comcast.net<br><b>Cc:</b> Critique Group 1 <group1@bluegrasspals.com><br><b>Subject:</b> [Critique Group 1] Sally's November submission<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>THE CHOSEN<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Knowing I need her, she will <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>come to take me home,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Away from this place of steel and stress.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Others of my kind here<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Curl up tightly with eyes closed.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Some hiss and extend sharp claws,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Fear hiding their true natures.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Feline angels from her past<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Whisper of her preparations<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>For my rescue and homecoming.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Catnip mice and jugs of litter<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Fill a corner of a room<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Just as I will fill a space<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Carved into her heart by recent loss.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>She knows cats choose their humans<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And that I await her arrival.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>My head resting against my cage,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I will see her when she comes,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And she will know me by<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The loving, rumbling purrs<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Welling up from my soul’s depths. By Sally Rosenthal<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>