Feline
On the savannah or on my knee,
the difference? One of degree.
That resolution of feline will—
the stroke, the purr, the spring, the kill.
Only the size and prey may change—
the speed of spring, the chase’s range.
Stalking over rock or rill
or perched upon the window sill,
large or small or maned or not,
they are exactly as God has wrought.
Wild or domestic, the fact is that
simply put, a cat’s a cat.
This throwback is from Sept 27, 2020
Feline Gamble
Stocked up on sustenance for my cats
and stowed it in a cupboard that’s
just outside my kitchen door.
(That’s what I built that cupboard for.)
The only problem seems to be
that closet lacks security,
but that is no problem, is it?
Unless cat burglars choose to visit!!
Go HERE for a kitty serenade.
For # Squares Renew
The prompt today was to write a triolet. A triolet is an eight-line poem. All the lines are in iambic tetrameter (for a total of eight syllables per line), and the first, fourth, and seventh lines are identical, as are the second and final lines. This means that the poem begins and ends with the same couplet. Beyond this, there is a tight rhyme scheme (helped along by the repetition of lines) ABaAabAB. Actually, there was a triolet challenge that I wrote for twice before for NaPoWriMo, once exactly ten years ago in 2013, the first year I did NaPoWriMo, and again in 2020. The poems as well as the cats I eventually “found” back then are below:
A Poem a Minute with a Triolet In it
When first I tried to write this rhyme
I could not seem to make it scan.
In short, I felt less than sublime
when first I tried to write this rhyme;
but then I took the proper time
and proved the truth as other than:
“When first I tried to write this rhyme
I could not seem to make it scan.”
With Workmen Here
The cats have flown, I know not where.
They’ve chosen to remain aloof.
They don’t await me on the stair.
The cats have flown, I know not where.
Not one to steal my favorite chair.
I do not hear them on the roof.
The cats have flown, I know not where.
They’ve chosen to remain aloof.
The assignment for day four of NaPoWriMo 2023 is to write a triolet.
Feline
On the savannah or on my knee,
the difference is one of degree.
That resolution of feline will—
the stroke, the purr, the spring, the kill.
Only the size and prey may change—
the speed of spring, the chase’s range.
Stalking over rock or rill
or perched upon the window sill,
large or small or maned or not,
they are exactly as God has wrought.
Wild or domestic, the fact is that
simply put, a cat’s a cat.
Fatal Wonder
Where’s that naughty kitty been?
Even though it’s nearly ten,
she’s not had a single nibble
of the tuna and the kibble
that I put outside the door
long ago—two hours or more.
If dead from curiosity,
she’s passed her illness onto me!
Dogs and Cats
Cats are more bendable, dogs more dependable.
Cats are more stretchable, dogs much more fetchable.
Dogs rip and tear and their kisses are wetter.
Cats donate hair to your favorite sweater.
Dogs howl at the moon and bark at the neighbors.
Curling and stretching the extent of the labors
of cats whereas dogs display energy plus––
harassing the mailman or chasing a bus.
Both species have four feet, fur and a tail,
fall into two classes: female and male,
and when there is breakage, neither is to blame.
But that’s the extent of the ways they’re the same.
For day 29 of NaPoWriMo 2020, we were to write a poem about our pets.
With Workmen Here
The cats have flown, I know not where.
They’ve chosen to remain aloof.
They don’t await me on the stair.
The cats have flown, I know not where.
Not one to steal my favorite chair.
I do not hear them on the roof.
The cats have flown, I know not where.
They’ve chosen to remain aloof.
The NaPoWriMo prompt today was to write a triolet. A triolet is an eight-line poem. All the lines are in iambic tetrameter (for a total of eight syllables per line), and the first, fourth, and seventh lines are identical, as are the second and final lines. This means that the poem begins and ends with the same couplet. Beyond this, there is a tight rhyme scheme (helped along by the repetition of lines) ABaAabAB.
(Click on first photo and then on arrows to enlarge photos.)
Cat Meditation
Entwined in my jacket, spread out on my quilt,
my cats take up the space they frequent with so little guilt.
I wonder what they visualize in their cache of dreams?
Is their sleep as peaceful as it always seems?
The dogs may twitch and bark and reach out paws in times of rest,
but cat sleep is so tranquil. They “do” their sleep the best.
They need no permission to tuck their chores away
and wander inward to their dreams, be it night or day.
Oh that I could rest away from all the world’s mad clatter.
The dreams they dream upon your lap are helpful in the latter—
their purr the loveliest mantra to help your mind unfurl
as you become their mattress, pinned beneath their curl.
Words for the day are purr, visualize, helpful, cache and jacket.
Extended Family
My furry raider sloshed through rain
out to the barn and back again,
but next trip was a passenger
his human cuddled close to her
so both could view the transient
new mother so intently bent
over her bounty, newly born
this blustery, rainy, wind-swept morn.
One more thing born that rainy day
around three homeless ones that lay
snuggled down within the hay
protected from the weather’s fray—
a sense of family between
an old male cat, once feral, mean—
who had been taken in himself
and these three waifs, curled on a shelf
within that barn where I’d found him.
Now both of us discovered them
and that day welcomed them, all three
to our extended family.
Prompt words today are raider, slosh, transient, bounty, and passenger.
