(x = space)

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Surly Cat Blues

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SING with me

Cat

Or let me sing with you

Or beat the cans or something

With the alley cats of night

Do you know

Top Cat?

I use to watch

When I was a child

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I’ll call you Surly Cat

To avoid any trouble

And sorry

It’s a surly day

I didn’t sleep much

I’ve had some coffee

Do I want some more?

I am

Debating

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Do you want some

Is that where a

Face comes from

Having caffeine

Or not

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Maybe chocolate

NO

Not for a cat

(or caffeine of any kind

either)

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Maybe Andrew Lang

Painted you

Or Christopher Smart

Elegized

As with Jeoffry

But I imagine you

More

A cat

With a guitar

Or base

Plucking

Singing about

Mouse

The adversary

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I don’t know

You might be a good cat

Avoiding

Everyone

Eschewing toys

Lousy on laps

Except as a surprise

A time of your own choosing

Interest

Combined with

Human inconvenience

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Now I wonder

HEY

It really does look good

Outside

Temperature is moderate

There is a

Range

Of blue and green

And white and black

And gray

Maybe I could take a walk

You could stay in here

The old glass

Allows for sunlight

You might

Feel

Righter with the

Feline, human

World

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Or hatch new plans

While you’re asleep

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C L Couch

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I don’t know if Kliban invented cats who sing the blues, but I can’t help but imagine the two (cats and blues) in Kliban fashion when I think of cats as characters (all kinds) making music in addition to purr, meow, growl.

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I decided not to cite the famous cat with the famouser face.  Too current, too popular.  So I made up Surly Cat.  It’s mine.  You can’t have it.  Unless you ask nicely.  Imagine a cat with fists and an expression always saying, You should see the other guy.

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Top Cat is an animated cat, the main character in an eponymous cartoon series in the sixties.  It was a delight of ours when children to meet the actor who was the voice of Top Cat.

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Photo by Max Simonov on Unsplash

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