I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

6 April 2017

The Vanishing Cat

The cat with white whiskers is not always here –
but I don’t know where she goes when she goes.
She will be here, then quietly disappear
when you’re not looking. Nobody knows
the way that she does it; she’s quiet and quick.
I look in each possible hiding-place
but she’s nowhere at all. It’s a very good trick.
I call her name but she won’t show her face.

She’s not in the cupboard or under the bed,
not under the table or behind the couch,
not in the kitchen scrounging for food –
and the doors are all shut so she can’t have gone out.
Then, just when everyone’s quite given up,
there she is suddenly, in the middle of the floor,
sitting pretty or curled up asleep …
though you know she wasn't there before.

The cat with white whiskers is lovely to see
when she gazes up with those wide, calm eyes.
‘What?’ she seems to say, ‘Looking for me?
I can’t understand that. It’s such a surprise.
Where would I have gone? What could I have done?’
and she licks her paw with a nonchalant air.
The cat with white whiskers has fooled you again.
She’s here, of course … only sometimes she’s – where?



















For Day 6 of April Poetry Month at 'imaginary garden with real toads' we are Celebrating Children's Poetry and invited to write a poem that children might enjoy. I hope adults do too!


20 comments:

  1. I totally adore your black cat with white whiskers - the perfect witch's accomplice.

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  2. Love it..there's more to that cat than meets the eye.

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  3. Do you know how much I covet your life, Rosemary?

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  4. By now, you know how much I love cats, Rosemary! I love this poem - it's magical and feline, and reminds me a little of T.S Eliot's 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats', which I loved as a child and still adore. I could once recite pretty much every poem in it and my favourite cats were Macavity: The Mystery Cat and Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat.

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    1. Oh yes! Who doesn't love Macavity and Skimbleshanks (in that order)?

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  5. You've got my heart with poetry and cats, Rosemary! Thanks so much for participating in my poetry prompt. I love it! And Kim's comment is right on - I'm also a fan of Eliot's cat collection. :-) Happy April! -Stacie

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  6. I love this, Rosemary. Aren't cats funny? Minds of their own, for sure!

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  7. I so love that Selene has white whiskers. Love the poem too!

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  8. you should get someone on fiverr to do the pictures for you and make this into a children's book.

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  9. I love cats ❤️ used to have five of them back in 1998.. so yeah I totally know what you mean. Lovely write, Rosemary ❤️

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  10. Cats are a bit magical it seems. Your cat is a beauty with those white whiskers and I love the poem.

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  11. A magical moment made in your mind. This white whiskered kitty is one of a kind.

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  12. I can tell you have personal cat experience. Perfect cat 'tale'.

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  13. Ah yes, the mysterious cat, fading in and out of sight. Nice capture of your white whiskered cat.

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  14. I'd suspect hanky-panky here, Rosemary. Has she ever come back expecting? Our nice cat became a curtain climber. She liked it out there though. She slept in the flower bed and would bring us wild life prey that she had killed.
    ..

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  15. Oh cats can hide in plain sight. You have so captured the lost kitty hide and seek.

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  16. that's lovely and it is treat to watch those tricks of a cat!

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  17. charming tale! Love the nonchalance of cat

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