Mudlark No. 51 (2013)

Aloof Above

They live in the cloud forests. Why would they come down?
Margay. Manigordo. The arboreal cats. With dark markings
around their eyes, applied like liner. Long legs tossed like scarves
around branches. Lounging, they drop their lids. Drippingly, 
they lift their limbs. Like juveniles. Manigordo—it’s not wrong
to give an ocelot a name that translates to fat paws. To call 
an exotic animal girlish. They are like girls, all their lives
looking as if they’re still growing into their feet, with all their 
rare certainty, above threat in the trees. With all their 
endangered beauty. You do not know it’s ending, in that time when
you remain beautiful.

Rose McLarney | In Proportion
Contents | Mudlark No. 51 (2013)