one for the cat

out of my house en route to the car
saw neighbor kids on roof of house next door
smirking freckled face tossed a baseball
off the roof trying to hit a cat crouched below
i saw red and bellowed, “Leave that cat alone!”
one of the teens sneered, “It’s my cat.”
as if that made one damn bit of difference
and i snarled, “I don’t care whose cat it is!”
then i challenged them to come down
so we could discuss it further
they opted to stay on the roof
as if to provide sufficient proof
of the cowards they were
i cannot abide cruelty to animals
and i wanna go berserk like Billy Jack
when i encounter the kind of bored sadism
i saw being practiced by these punks
dull and uncreative, their imaginations only
sparked to life by maliciousness,
they reminded me of shitheads i knew in prison,
covering the earth like a plague
a part of me wishes i’d dragged them down
and beaten their asses
but when i relate this story
people tell me i overreacted