c -- the second part of this poem, very strong (and frightening).  the first part runs too long.  just an opinion, though. 

---

lady in air force buff walks in
a vet clinic where i worked,
part time

with an armload of newborn kittens,
'round quittin' time when all the grownups
are picking up rover and kitty.

her nickname is 'cat lady'.

everyone stares at her in shock.
the kittens are the same black
and gray stripe, all have the same
frantic mew. 

some of them are wet and pissing,
shitting, some vomit, if big enough;
eyes are runny, and noses are just
plain sick on the eyes.

dr. john lewis doesn't really know
what to do, but he's good at pretending.

he looks at cat lady, with her short chopped
off brown hair, smelling of cat emitted heat,
and realizes she's serious.

doc begins to tell her the bad news.

....

afghans have hospitals,
but doctors won't stay.

patients have vaccines
viva a la americana
but the vaccines won't
keep without refrigeration.

afghanistan doesn't supply
refrigeration to middle class
participants (who are really
low class participants).

as we speak, vaccines
are thrown on the soil of

the earth for all the psilocybin
bunnies to pick up and carry.

in turn, we can all share
the same mysterious

rash that everyone pretends
to know nothing about.

lo and behold!  there's no cure
for this rash, and a host of new,
inexplicable ailments--

someone needs to tell us
(and them) the bad news.

---

BOTH parts scary, Cheryl. The idea of trans-species illness so visceral.
A few local thoughts:
These apostrophes a distraction in this poem, no need of dialect-sound I don't think: 'round quittin'.
When I read "everyone stares at her in shock," I though, oh maybe the "buff" in L1 did mean naked!
Maybe the "lo and behold" stanza can be cut.
--Tom

c -- don't be too sure I'm right.  what's necessary is totally your call.  when suggestions are made on my work, i look at what i have and try to figure out 'why' i made the choices made.  sometimes the choices were made as i began the work to give me a footing, a place to begin, but when the work is completed, much of the early groundwork can go -- like a scaffolding can and should be removed after the building is up.  That there is a cat lady with kittens and a vet who can pretend but gives the bad news -- i see this as the set up to parallel the second half of poem.  But use details in the first half that may echo in the second half; mention the vet's refrigerator or what he might store in them, or that there is no hope even with them.  Is the "I" needed, or the part time work? or the "lady" and what she wears?  or the "everyone stares" -- Ask how these details and others echo or support the second half of poem.    If they do, then stick with them.  If they don't, pare them down or omit and save for a separate work.  Best I can offer, c.  Hope it's of some help.

The second part seems so different from the first, I wonder if they're he same poem.  Maybe there's a linking stanza?  Maybe I just don't get part 2.  Part one is so sharp & clear to me.  Dazzled by it maybe.

Rick

LOL Cheryl, I was thrown off by "afghans."  I immediately thought of "Afghan hounds" (still in the vet's office, I guess) and didn't even think the word might refer to people.  What a bonehead I am!  Derailed at the intersection and never even knew it.

Rick