POEM - The Cat Behind the Poet

Everywhere I read

In this long list of poems

There are cats

Popping up in text and title

They might be sitting in windows

Lazily watching a buzzing fly

The cat swats at the fly

Half-heartedly to pass time

Not out of anger toward the buzzing pest

The cat does it because it is a cat

That is what cats do

Over here there is a cat

Watching something imperceptible

As the poet leans back

Trying to catch a glimpse

Perceive what is so captivating

The poet sees nothing

It is something only real to a feline

Only visible on a plane of existence

A little higher than the humans

One of my favorite authors has an office cat

It helps him write

            So he claims

Sits behind him

In the small of his back

Makes him really lean into his work

Maybe I should get a cat of my own

There is a ready assortment out back

There always is in the country

This is where they spawn from

The portal between our worlds

Waxes thin in the rural air

But I can’t have a cat!

The mere thought is absurd

I’m never home long enough

A cat would never allow it

Such absence and neglect

And would it sit behind me too

            Let me lean back against it

Feel the soothing tremor of a purr

            The slight claw prick of encouragement