dogs

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

July 29, 2019 0

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

April 28, 2016 4

My Two Charges

My Two Charges

They’re small like cats

Not even big house cats

They’re dogs and must

Be compensating

Wishing all felines

Into tolerable targets

Thank goodness, I have

Them when they tire

With age, sleeping more

Than running varmints

Down in the yard

Actually, my greater

Concern—my aim—is

Is that they live until my

Sister returns

Hear that, lump of

Turned-in white-curled

Thighs and back and

Ears, snoozing beside me

As I type?

And you, over to the

Left, long-brown dog

Sleeping in a circle on the

Floor, back bent from

Early trauma—your

Heart will keep its

Rhythm (yes?), when

You set your four pins

To the ground to trundle

Over to the door?

Please, dogs, stay with

After long-sleeping

Hours, I’d be thankful

For you waking up

Each time

March 29, 2016 14

Happy Tails, Happy Trails

Happy Tails, Happy Trails

I grew up with cats, with
Dogs, partly with a horse
(an entire horse), some
Guinea pigs, I think, and
Fish I could not relate to

There was a rabbit (maybe
Two rabbits—you know
How they are), a rescued
Bird

I met a big snake one time
At a program with a guide;
I enjoyed petting the snake

Feeling its muscles move
Beneath the skin

I enjoyed a staring contest
With a deer across the
Yard; actually, we were
Both walking the local
Cemetery and caught, as
If to trap, each other’s eyes

The things—Scripture’s
Creeping things—with tails
Are the ones I seem to
Do best with; I suppose I
Create a cheat out of
Belief and hope that the
Ones with tails and I are
Getting along

Well, what can I say? My
Wish (I don’t think Dale
Evans Rogers would mind)—

Happy tails, happy trails

this work is incited (that is, inspired in
an especially zealous way) in part by a
delightful blog and an extraordinary
group, Three Chatty Cats, celebrating
wondrously the rescue of cats

http://threechattycats.com/2016/02/08/the-odd-cat-sanctuary/
http://threechattycats.com/

February 11, 2016 8