At Rest and Play

At Rest and Play

His back feet he kicks out,
High in the air, with no ground to meet,
Like steel traps his back legs bolt,
At something he dream-hunts, perhaps

At something small his front paws grasp
Though there is nothing there at all,
Murrs and low growls pull lips to bare teeth,
At what may be dream mice, or fowl

He slept with ease before his stroke,
Now sleep calmed limbs have been released,
His four paws shake and lash, I watch,
And witness his whole world aquake

From on a chair or on the floor,
I’ve seen him leap straight in the air,
Aerial pounce while sound asleep!
On all fours lands without a bounce!

While he’s at rest he’s more active
Than when awake, and I suspect
He’s not, to sleep, counting small mice,
He’s dream hunting great big horn sheep!

Snow Cat Mailbox

Snow Cat Mailbox

The force of light snowflakes is a cumulative menace,
Flake by flake they weigh no more
  Than does the willow floss,
Or wind blown maple seeds when on the wing

Bur when compacted with a snow plow’s inertia,
Tumble-churned in the vortex of that semi-circ maw,
  It is propelled with the force
Of an elephantine dump truck stampede charging on behind

Sending punch-ice bushels of slush with each passing,
Of which our mail box, but a light and empty thing, at its mercy,
  Is pushed off to the lower drive, 
There to lie half buried in the cold wet sand-scree snow

It’s post, stronger for the buried metal mount
Remains defiant as a tree stump after the storm,
  Open handed holding out its arm and board
Where once our box, now ripped, was nailed

And now it is the discretion of the postman
To lay our bills and letters by our doorstep,
  Out there, naked to the will of the wind,
Perforce to be as snowflakes born away

Thespian, the Cat who Broke A Leg

Thespian, the Cat who Broke A Leg

“What’s that walking on the stage,
 No cat is mentioned on this page
   Within the scene or dialogue…?”

“Ok, no, that’s Thespian, the backstage cat,
 He knows better than doing that,
 Stage hand,
   Please catch him he’s not auditioning today”

“No, wait! He’s perfect!  …
 Did he bring a headshot? Who’s his agent?”

“As I said he’s the playhouse cat,
Don’t know if he’s pedigree or stray …
  He’s been with our company for several seasons

Despite the frequent legs he’s broken
He’s our cast’s beloved luck token
  To stage-fraught actors’ needing comfort”

(con't after/below picture)

“What’s he known for?”

“Mostly, breaking into dressing rooms with serio-comic timing,
To oaths half-dressed starlets scream that defy ludic rhyming,
Of course, his ‘breaking’ here refers to the curtain
  - breaking a leg - wandering on from the side of the stage

Yet during a show when he’s walked out on stage
The audience at once engages
  So many times he’s stole the play

And Thespian here’s upstaged both Olivier, and Burton,
Only to find on the stage are no vermin,
Next then to strut off with uproarious applause
  While he kicks his back toes, mocking scratching dirt paws"

“But, can he act?”

“He’s a well trained cat of the actors studio,
Always in cat character, you know, when on or off of the stage,
Although he’s method trained he will imploy questionable choices
  Such as howling too much, plays death scenes in odd voices

He’s been known to pounce on ingenue’s feathered hats,
He’s oft’ stalked our prop birds, sprayed on gentlemen’s spats,
He can sneak through a birdcage, playing thin on demand,
Despite that his frame’s Orson Welles-ishly grand”

“Has he been employed on stage purposely?”

“One of Thespians’ jobs was that he was the answer
To an issue of concern for our fragile soft-shoe dancers,
If a dancer, dancing backwards, was to collide with the proscenium,
It was Thespian’s job to jump out in between him,
  and it,  bodily, though despite being squooshed,
To protect those delicate dancer bums”

“How is he, with the ladies?”

“When our fair lady cat showed up for the show,
Thespian loudly meowed, then began to howl low,
So we brought him to the vet to have him, well, ‘fixed,’
  Except there we were told our cat was not a Tom,
But that Thespian, was a lesbian …
  Our diva drama Cat”

“Ok, he’s hired!”
“No, she, sir …”