sw00222s-set1.tc7.cat.ditty

Sets: set 1 - Tillie
   6 cat poems and 1 cat ditty



 [ The cat ditty below
   was published online
   about six years ago,
   but I don't at this moment--
   10:19pm 2006-05-12--
   know where, though I do
   recall it being Google-accessible
   for a time.  I have sent
   an e-mail query to/
   the company I think/
   might be able to find out,
   but I doubt I will get a response.
   05/15/06: The date on the
             letter-size sheet
   I found it typed on/ is June 13, 1979,
   and it is signed: Alden St. Cloud.
   2007 050 02 4 1
     As it happens, I did get a reply;
     but the woman who sent it said
     they were not able to find it in
     their archives. ]

-
-
-

"Where'd the Cat Go?"


Who knows, who knows
where the kitty-kat goes,

following her nose
through the rains & snows;

or, how the sun rose
between her toes.

Who knows.
Who knows.




 -------
Brian A. J. Salchert                     

sw00221s-set1.tc6.cat.poem

Sets: set 1 - Tillie
 6 cat poems and 1 cat ditty



"The Chair"


     The platform rocker,
a long while around--
its wood: maple,
its upholstery: aged/ rough olive-green
                patterned with fanciful blossoms
                of rusty green & rusty orange--

     that I use when I read,
     and often leave a book on,

     is also the chair
     Tillie sometimes uses
     when she is tuckered.
     She approaches it with
     a quick mew,  then
     locates where
     her body displaces
     the dull indoor air,
                          & ignores
my book
with a mild disdain, giving it merely a
why-is-this-thing-still-here
        glance/
                as she settles beyond it.





 -------
Brian A. J. Salchert                       

sw00220s-set1.tc5.cat.poem

Sets: set 1 - Tillie
 6 cat poems and 1 cat ditty



"Tillie Dreams"


The rocker moves.
It is Tillie
changing position:
sniffing grass /
tearing, licking choice blades & spikes of seeds
while she saves a corner of her eye--
the left one / the right one--
for a sudden bug
to chase;
then       changing position:
doing a hump stretch
to loosen up/       for a leap to
   the roof of a garage
to nip a pecking pigeon /
                          & sail in a gentle curve
             back to the lawn
as she circles down
to the faded-olive
seat;
then       changing position:
                              capturing         a cloud.





 -------
Brian A. J. Salchert                 

sw00219s-set1.tc4.cat.poem

Sets: set 1 - Tillie
 6 cat poems and 1 cat ditty



"In a Favored Place"


Curled in the chair
as if in air

on her left side
so her whites hide

for the most part
as her slow heart

visible in
her pulsing skin

while legs stretch out
& her tail's stout

& almost goes
to her tired toes,

our Tillie rests
from moods & guests,

and/ keeps her grace.





 -------
Brian A. J. Salchert                      

sw00218s-set1.tc3.cat.poem

Sets: set 1 - Tillie
 6 cat poems and 1 cat ditty



"Thief"


Entering the kitchen,
she fills time bathing herself
while I am making my cheese & cold meat sandwich;
then, beyond the table,
hops the less than 18 inches
onto the windowsill,
& shifting her head from behind the
open curtain,
springs to the cupboard
while I am easing the jar of salad dressing
into its place in the refrigerator door;
and, just as I turn, looking up,
jumps down
with the red tie
for the bread wrapper
dangling from her
beelining mouth.





 -------
Brian A. J. Salchert                       

sw00217s-set1.tc2.cat.poem

Sets: set 1 - Tillie
 6 cat poems and 1 cat ditty



"2 Visions"


Early one morning,
though I knew she was passing
the foot of our bed--
I could hear her mewing, and see
the end half of her tail gliding
above the static waves of our covers--
I hallucinated Tillie
sitting in the doorway,
the spirit of her
in the doorway,
silent & proper;
and while I tried several times
to shake it away,
it wouldn't disappear,
but stayed what seemed
an unusually
long while,
until I thought "Oh no!--
as cheering as she often is,
I don't think I could handle
two "Tillies";
and once more/ shook my head.

And that dream
the other night!--
the white paws,
white breast,
white triangle (mini-pick beauty mark)
to the left of her black nose,
& the otherwise dominant medium gray
& those amber eyes
snuggling the solid lighter gray
of another cat,
the two of them
impishly sitting toward me
between the closet door & the bed
as if they both
belonged
there.





 -------
Brian A. J. Salchert                       

sw00216sc-set1.tc.links

Sets: set 1 - Tillie
   6 cat poems and 1 cat ditty



"Amusement"


On the other side of the bed
where an extra blanket's
crumpled
in the corner,
meowings & thumpings:
Tillie's clawless front paws
stuffing the injured
3-inch wire
covered & flanged with red paper
(the bread wrapper tie)
under the worn old rose hump;
then backing off,
leading her crouched body, waiting
for the right moment/ to
attack,
bat
the viper,
snatch it
from its shelter,
raising it to the top of her stretch
& collapsing backwards,
snapping it/
out of her mouth
to bat,
twist,
hide it again . . ./ and again.




 -----------------------------------------

 links to rest of set:
 -
 2 Visions
 -
 Thief
 -
 In a Favored Place
 -
 Tillie Dreams
 -
 The Chair
 -
 Where'd the Cat Go?
 -
 -

[ last modified: 2008-10-16 ]


 -------
Brian A. J. Salchert