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Cat News in Mews

Cat News in Mews

(not meaning stables except I guess as places for cat-gossip)

 

In a recent study

It was on the news today

Arch researching

(not unlike the cats indifferent

arch that is a pose, I’m sure) Found that

Cats can hear us

They know our names

They simply choose

To ignore us

 

This is news?

We know our cats know us

We count on it

As they on us

It’s a round-robin game

(sparing the robin)

The supplicants of Bastet

Could inform you

And all the rats on ships

 

Certainly, they know their names

But what is in the mind

Are silent cues

Scripted by a

God who loves them both

The felines and their victims

 

Cycles for the ages

Worthy of praise

Like Christopher Smart’s cat Jeoffry

Who will, I’m sure, not hear daily

Anything else

 

C L Couch

 

 

 

Study of the Virgin and Christ Child with a cat.

Leonardo da Vinci – The British Museum Database, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11231152

 

“Jubilate Agno”

Christopher Smart

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45173/jubilate-agno

 

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Colleagues

Colleagues

 

I heard from my friends about

Their trip to Europe

My cat friends listened with

Me

We enjoyed the stories

Though they’d rather have their bowls

And I was a soft touch for them

While Mom and Dad

Had been away

 

But life returns to older ways

And all are here

I’ll see the images, go home

I’ll think about my parents

For some reason

How it was not

Easy

 

And, if vicarious,

The family I attend to

Now

Only tussles over

Unimportant things

So that negotiations never last

Because remembrance is

For

All the needful things we keep

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by sarandy westfall on Unsplash

 

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Cats and Dogs LLC

Cats and Dogs LLC

 

Taking care of cats is done

Human mom and dad are home

Now I’ve been asked about

A dog

It’s a cottage industry

Without the cottage

Next time I want a cottage

Maybe a retreat house

Maybe a place for

Pet contemplatives

We could invite patrons to workshops:

Julian for cats

Roch for dogs

Francis for the birds that visit

Via rafters

 

Can you imagine compline

Vigil and matins?

Cats gathered not as

Clowders but choristers

Dogs serving as lectors

Reading from

What else

You know it’s coming

Saint Bernard

 

C L Couch

 

 

Church ruins and a stray dog in Karpaz, Northern Cyprus.

Michal Klajban – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78240449

 

 

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Feeding Friends’ Cats

Feeding Friends’ Cats

(or Feeding Cat Friends)

 

One cat makes

Little cat-sounds while eating

I don’t mean slurps and burps

I mean sighs and mews

As if to say,

This is good

This is thoughtful work

Leave me alone

 

The other cat’s a vacuum

And has become dog-sized

Going after food that cats typically

Eschew (not chew)

He does this because

Like the tall mountain,

The food is there

 

I like them both

Each a version of cat-crazy

And me for volunteering

Their human parents get a trip to

Europe

I stay here and stoke my allergens

I’ll recover later

 

Maybe they’ll offer me

A cushion in cat-heaven

Probably not

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Harshil Gudka on Unsplash

brothers

 

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Twilight of the Gods

Twilight of the Gods

 

Last night we sat out

On the porch

The heat of day upon us

A little lessened

One cat on the rail

(screens on the other side)

One cat stretched out upon the

Teak dining table,

The center of a set purchased after

A fire burned half of the house

A year and more ago

 

We watched lightning in the distance

I tried to count the miles

But didn’t hear anything

The storm must have been far away

The lightning cracked again in silence

Split that part of night

So far away

 

I had been reading of the death of Baldur

And now could wonder if he might

Be falling through the sky to Earth

Where we could mourn him, too

With all the gods and, yes, the giants

All the seasons of the year

All trees and even metals

Other elements, so says the storyteller

 

But Baldur went to Hel and hell

As the Norse configure these

My version cannot last

Though it made me sad enough

To wish more beauty, even slain

To Earth

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Marc Clinton Labiano on Unsplash

 

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Cat People

Cat People

 

I don’t know why we like

To change or stay the same

Is it up to us

As a campaign?—when

Burdened, yes, when

Abused of

Our better parts and

Aspirations

 

(Or maybe because we bug the

Hell out

Of those around

Us, and they’re right)

 

Otherwise, doesn’t the universe

Offer instinct-movement in

Gravity

And the attraction or, admittedly,

Repulsion of

Black holes and

Neutron stars?

 

And all the turning elements

That ask of us to

Dance if possible with joy,

Day by day,

(And anyway)

With all the nuclei?

 

Like felines who jump across

The yard or run the

House

 

Because they can

Because the gods of catliness

Say cats must—

And don’t they want to!

 

C L Couch

 

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Still (and Superior) Life in Berlin

Still (and Superior) Life in Berlin

for the cats of Kathleen D

 

American ex-pat cats

 

They look out windows five floors

Up

They overhear airy conversation

 

Inherently translating,

Since (and to answer the question)

 

German cats meow in German

 

C L Couch

 

german_rex_5581161

German Rex (naturally)

http://cats.petbreeds.com/l/68/German-Rex

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Neighbor House Afire

Neighbor House Afire

 

I saw the newspaper article:

It looked like someone else’s

News

 

But it happened to them

 

Before newspaper-reading,

I received the message;

Something caught fire in

Their garage then, needing

Room, the fire flexed

 

Garage gone now—the car,

Too, the house and who

Knows what else damaged

 

Fire out, three days now

 

Insurance is good, my friends

Tell me

 

All are well; the cats were

Rescued first by the one

Human who was home

 

Now in alternative shelter,

Plans by all in unison are

Made (except the cats who

Make their own), even while

Breathing takes over again

 

Pray for my friends—they’re

Raw in crisis

 

And I won’t presume to know

All that they need

5

One Dog, Two Cats, Two Dogs

One Dog, Two Cats, Two Dogs

 

I’m with the dogs again;

I should set out a shingle

 

Neighbor’s dog (the only

Dog from whom I’ve

Received real hugs)

 

Friends’ cats, exercises

In indifference, until I’m

The only one to feed

Them

 

These two dogs in the

Family are older, whiny,

And demanding

 

I love them both

 

What kind of irony that

Saint Francis helps me

With my pets but has not

Yet arranged for the

Curing of my allergies

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