Poetry for cats

30 August 2008

Here’s a little literary fun for a holiday weekend. This is from Poetry for Cats: Tthe Definitive Anthology of Distinguished Feline Verse, by Henry Beard. It’s a lovely, clever collection of poems, ostensibly written by famous poets’ cats, which is brilliant both as hommage and as a study of feline psychology.

Here’s a taste. Enjoy.

To A Vase
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Cat

 

How do I break thee? Let me count the ways.
I break thee if thou art at any height
My paw can reach, when, smarting from some slight,
I sulk, or have one of my crazy days.
I break thee with an accidental graze
Or twitch of tail, if I should take a fright.
I break thee out of pure and simple spite
The way I broke the jar of mayonnaise.
I break thee if a bug upon thee sits.
I break thee if I’m in a playful mood,
And then I wrestle with the shiny bits.
I break thee if I do not like my food.
And if someone thy shards together fits,
I’ll break thee once again when thou art glued.

 

– from Poetry for Cats by Henry Beard

Posted by Kelley | Filed Under blog, quotes, reading 

Comments

2 Responses to “Poetry for cats”

  1. Barbara Sanchez on August 31st, 2008 11:26 pm

    Elizabeth Barret Browning had a very famous dog named Fluss, about whom Virginia Woolf wrote a very famous biography. If this exquisitely funny poem is any indication, she also had at least one cat. It catches her voice and style down to the ground.

  2. Kelley on September 4th, 2008 5:53 pm

    Isn’t it great? The whole book is like this, just chock full of wit and grace and great good fun. I highly recommend it.

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