{"id":22003,"date":"2026-04-22T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T17:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/?p=22003"},"modified":"2026-04-27T08:26:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:26:03","slug":"missys-animal-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/missys-animal-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"Missy&#8217;s Animal Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-social-links is-content-justification-right is-layout-flex wp-container-core-social-links-is-layout-765c4724 wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-facebook  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61556140010887\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12 2C6.5 2 2 6.5 2 12c0 5 3.7 9.1 8.4 9.9v-7H7.9V12h2.5V9.8c0-2.5 1.5-3.9 3.8-3.9 1.1 0 2.2.2 2.2.2v2.5h-1.3c-1.2 0-1.6.8-1.6 1.6V12h2.8l-.4 2.9h-2.3v7C18.3 21.1 22 17 22 12c0-5.5-4.5-10-10-10z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-instagram  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/boudin_mcneese\/\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12,4.622c2.403,0,2.688,0.009,3.637,0.052c0.877,0.04,1.354,0.187,1.671,0.31c0.42,0.163,0.72,0.358,1.035,0.673 c0.315,0.315,0.51,0.615,0.673,1.035c0.123,0.317,0.27,0.794,0.31,1.671c0.043,0.949,0.052,1.234,0.052,3.637 s-0.009,2.688-0.052,3.637c-0.04,0.877-0.187,1.354-0.31,1.671c-0.163,0.42-0.358,0.72-0.673,1.035 c-0.315,0.315-0.615,0.51-1.035,0.673c-0.317,0.123-0.794,0.27-1.671,0.31c-0.949,0.043-1.233,0.052-3.637,0.052 s-2.688-0.009-3.637-0.052c-0.877-0.04-1.354-0.187-1.671-0.31c-0.42-0.163-0.72-0.358-1.035-0.673 c-0.315-0.315-0.51-0.615-0.673-1.035c-0.123-0.317-0.27-0.794-0.31-1.671C4.631,14.688,4.622,14.403,4.622,12 s0.009-2.688,0.052-3.637c0.04-0.877,0.187-1.354,0.31-1.671c0.163-0.42,0.358-0.72,0.673-1.035 c0.315-0.315,0.615-0.51,1.035-0.673c0.317-0.123,0.794-0.27,1.671-0.31C9.312,4.631,9.597,4.622,12,4.622 M12,3 C9.556,3,9.249,3.01,8.289,3.054C7.331,3.098,6.677,3.25,6.105,3.472C5.513,3.702,5.011,4.01,4.511,4.511 c-0.5,0.5-0.808,1.002-1.038,1.594C3.25,6.677,3.098,7.331,3.054,8.289C3.01,9.249,3,9.556,3,12c0,2.444,0.01,2.751,0.054,3.711 c0.044,0.958,0.196,1.612,0.418,2.185c0.23,0.592,0.538,1.094,1.038,1.594c0.5,0.5,1.002,0.808,1.594,1.038 c0.572,0.222,1.227,0.375,2.185,0.418C9.249,20.99,9.556,21,12,21s2.751-0.01,3.711-0.054c0.958-0.044,1.612-0.196,2.185-0.418 c0.592-0.23,1.094-0.538,1.594-1.038c0.5-0.5,0.808-1.002,1.038-1.594c0.222-0.572,0.375-1.227,0.418-2.185 C20.99,14.751,21,14.444,21,12s-0.01-2.751-0.054-3.711c-0.044-0.958-0.196-1.612-0.418-2.185c-0.23-0.592-0.538-1.094-1.038-1.594 c-0.5-0.5-1.002-0.808-1.594-1.038c-0.572-0.222-1.227-0.375-2.185-0.418C14.751,3.01,14.444,3,12,3L12,3z M12,7.378 c-2.552,0-4.622,2.069-4.622,4.622S9.448,16.622,12,16.622s4.622-2.069,4.622-4.622S14.552,7.378,12,7.378z M12,15 c-1.657,0-3-1.343-3-3s1.343-3,3-3s3,1.343,3,3S13.657,15,12,15z M16.804,6.116c-0.596,0-1.08,0.484-1.08,1.08 s0.484,1.08,1.08,1.08c0.596,0,1.08-0.484,1.08-1.08S17.401,6.116,16.804,6.116z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Instagram<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Missy&#8217;s Animal Rescue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Bryn Gribben<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Missy herself sits behind the desk, logging<br>adoptions, barely looks up from the screen.<br>\u201cYou can just open up the cage<br>and pet them, if you want.\u201d &nbsp; Frowsy-haired,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">her giant breasts are wet from doing flea dips,&nbsp;<br>\u201cforty done already\u2014twenty left to go.\u201d&nbsp; Grimy with&nbsp;<br>the musk of sixty felines, lit like the cheapest motel room,&nbsp;<br>it is a cavern stacked with cats:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">cages upon cage, a separate glass-doored room&nbsp;<br>for the feral, a labyrinth of tabbies. Green eyes<br>plead with me behind a price tag selling sisters:&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>\u201cLed Zeppelin and Blink 182.\u201d \u201cCash only,\u201d says Missy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">still staring at the glowing screen.<br>Later, at another shelter, I\u2019ll meet Kim,<br>who used to work for Missy, who shudders&nbsp;<br>when I tell her of the smell, the sense that \u201canimal rescue\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">has a double meaning there.&nbsp; We speak of Missy\u2019s callousness,<br>her seeming sloth, rough mother of the cast-off<br>and forgotten.&nbsp; \u201cShe means well,\u201d Kim says,<br>\u201cbut she should be shut down\u2014a hoarder,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">in a sense.\u201d&nbsp; Missy grabs each kitten by the scruff,<br>plops them on the counter. &nbsp; \u201cThese two were left&nbsp;<br>in an apartment,\u201d she says, injects a microchip in each,<br>abruptly sprays them, one more time, with flea repellant,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">even as she warns me not to mop my floors<br>with anything but vinegar.&nbsp; \u201cJust left behind\u2014<br>the landlord found them.&nbsp; They were only babies.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>Behind us, the door\u2019s bell jingles like a wayward cat,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">admits a woman and her boyfriend. \u201cToo late\u2014this&nbsp;<br>woman\u2019s buying them.\u201d&nbsp; She tells me, \u201cThey\u2019re the ones&nbsp;<br>who named them.\u201d&nbsp; Missy doesn\u2019t seem to mind&nbsp;<br>the woman\u2019s tears, to mind their terrible taste in names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">to mind much of anything at all.&nbsp; For all I know,<br>she may be crazy for real\u2014intent on rescue<br>without seeing harm in all the matted fur, the air,<br>the rows and rows of runny eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">But Missy\u2014O, Missy\u2014I know&nbsp;<br>your heart is bigger than your flea-dipped&nbsp;<br>bosom.&nbsp; Beneath your ruffled fur, there is&nbsp;<br>a savior for the small, someone&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">who knows that \u201cwild\u201d and \u201ctiny\u201d<br>are not doomed.&nbsp; Though you hold<br>them roughly by the scruff, there\u2019s a clause&nbsp;<br>in your adoption contract to return all&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">cats to you, even in ten years, if we&nbsp;<br>fail in our commitments to their care.&nbsp;<br>You\u2019d take them back, dip them again<br>in an unending baptism of what might be love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2026\/04\/IMG_8990-e1777060473156.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22120\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"> Nora, a calico named after Nora Ephron, striking a pensive pose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2026\/04\/IMG_4752.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22121\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2026\/04\/IMG_4752.jpeg 320w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2026\/04\/IMG_4752-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Fosca, the black and white cat on the right, was originally named Blink 182 at Missy&#8217;s, which has since been shut down. Luly, a tortoiseshell named after a Seattle fashion designer, was also adopted at Missy&#8217;s Animal Rescue. She perches to the left of Fosca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Bryn Gribben<\/strong> is a poet and essayist who left academia to write and explore antiques. Her essay &#8220;Cabin&#8221; was nominated for a 2019 Pushcart Prize, and she was a finalist both for the 2021 Creative Nonfiction Porch Prize and the Peseroff Prize in poetry. Bryn&#8217;s first book, a musical memoir,<em> Amplified Heart: An Emotional Discography<\/em>, was published by Otherwords Press in 2022. She lives in Seattle with two cats and a love song of a husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>__________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"438\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg 438w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\">&lt;&lt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/merlin\/\">Back<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/porcupine-thirty-one-years-later-pocket-gopher-thou-hath-eaten-all-my-daisies-and-so-i-write-this-poem-to-you-the-mallard-and-me\/\">Next<\/a> &gt;&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To learn more about submitting your work to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/boudin-submissions\/\">Boudin<\/a><\/em> or applying to McNeese State University&#8217;s Creative Writing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/mfa-application-submissions\/\">MFA program<\/a>, please visit Submissions for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Missy&#8217;s Animal Rescue Bryn Gribben __________ Missy herself sits behind the desk, loggingadoptions, barely looks up from the screen.\u201cYou can just open up the cageand pet them, if you want.\u201d &nbsp; Frowsy-haired,&nbsp; her giant breasts are wet from doing flea dips,&nbsp;\u201cforty done already\u2014twenty left to go.\u201d&nbsp; Grimy with&nbsp;the musk of sixty felines, lit like the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[75,145,18],"class_list":["post-22003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-third-annual-pet-writing-contest","tag-boudin","tag-poetry-2","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22003"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22177,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22003\/revisions\/22177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}