in the house across
from my parents’ backyard
or that it took two hours
to find that stepladder
or ladder, whatever
you call it, to prop up
against that old fence.
I looked into the green beans
my neighbour planted.
Then I took my hat off
and let the heat
look into my back.
Thought, why the hell
are there so many green beans?
I stared hard until the cat came,
and waved to my neighbour,
who, after a moment, waved back,
startled, and I laughed, thinking
of how touching
the hot chin of a stray cat
startles anyone, because
that hard hollow triangle of bone
kissing your hand
never gets old, no matter what.
Jessica Le is the author of the chapbook The Nearest Sweetest Thing (Anstruther Press, 2021). Her work has been published in Watch Your Head: Writers & Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (Coach House Books, 2020), The Rumpus, Salt Hill Journal, PRISM International, and elsewhere. She lives in Toronto. @lejiexi on Twitter.