Poets Salon: Dreaming Cats

POETS SALON

Sleeping Cat (Photo – Marta Chocilowska)

– 7/03/19

Hosted by Kath Abela Wilson

Years ago we came home after going to a late afternoon family movie. Our cat was silent so we began to search, missing her welcome squeals in Siamese…There she was, on my daughter’s pretty ruffled bed, licking six perfect kittens. She looked up for a moment knowingly.

her choice
she had the bed
for the night

~ Kath Abela

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Dreaming Cat (Photo – Marta Chocilowska)

Marta Chocilowska

tonight
a dream came to my bed
on its soft feet
it purred it purred it purred
quietly straight to my ear

at dawn
a place on the quilt
still keeps the shape
and next to my pillow
a single whisker is left

an afternoon nap
sun paints the tiger stripes
on the ginger cat

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Polepole my cat dreaming at her favorite cat hotel window (Photo – Mariko Kitakubo)

Mariko Kitakubo

My sweet cat, Polepole was born in 2002. My son and I met her at the nice old fashioned cafe in Inokashira park,Tokyo. It was the season of young green leaves. She was only a baby cat. The cafe owner said, I am searching for foster parents. My son (he was 17) and I looked at each other…we already decided we wanted to be her foster parents. She was so tiny but a cheerful baby cat. She tried to talk like us! Her voice was not mew mew. She created her own Japanese sounds…”to ppu pi ru ru”

She is 17 now, but doesn’t look like an old cat. In human time maybe 90? But she looks like a young lady cat. Her character is still very very friendly. Her name, Polepole means, “let’s go slowly!” in Swahili. My dearest Polepole, please go slowly and be happy!Love you so.

like a wave
up and down
calmly…
an old cat is sleeping
in her other world

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My Cat (Photo – Corine Timmer)

Corine Timmer

The One

As I am allergic to cats, my cats live in and around the stable where they keep the rats at bay. Every now and again an abandoned, feral, or curious outsider turns up. Sometimes they fight and the loser leaves. Other times they are accepted and end up staying. In 2017, a Siamese-type tomcat entered our territory. Unlike most previous tomcats, this one was calm. There was no fighting. He didn’t demand space, he simply blended in.

the one
mamma cat left behind—
spring drizzle

But I was not as open-minded as the resident cats. I didn’t want another cat. Another cat meant trouble, extra food, disease, scent marking, and in the worst case scenario, one of my resident cats opting out. So I ignored this cat. I even tried to scare him off but he didn’t bat an eyelid. He just looked at me.

the clouds open up
to a sunbeam—
I stop and stare

When I eventually started talking to him he stuttered. It was a soft high pitched stutter; totally out of character for a big mean-looking tomcat. I called him Beckham. Beckham lived with us for one year. He died in 2018. I didn’t realize how old he was. He looked great for his age. Looking back, general relations in the stable were more harmonious when Beckham was around. Beckham built bridges and reminded me of the importance of tolerance and the wisdom of the ancients.

long after
in my dream
my cat’s face

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Dreamiy Cat (Photo – Beata Wrzal)

Beata Wrzal

she chooses
her own path
catwoman

summer holiday
the cat stretched out
in the suitcase

at the fireplace
purring in unity
with my cat

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Polepole at home (Photo – Mariko Kitakubo)

Dreaming Cats: Quotes and Credits

Marta Chociłowska lives in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. She’s a cat lover and a cyclist. Co-author of many domestic and foreign haiku anthologies, winner and judge of domestic and international haiku contests. Has publications in international haiga and haiku journals. Author of “Seasons in Polish kigo”, member of the founding committee of Polish Haiku Association and president of this association; editor of the Almanac “Migratory Birds” and The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Registry coordinator.

Mariko Kitakubo (a tanka poet/tanka reading performer) lives in Mitaka-city, Tokyo. She has published six books of tanka including three bilingual ones. She has also produced a CD of her tanka titled “Messages.” Mariko is an experienced performer who has presented her poetry on at least 220 occasions, 165 of them overseas. She hopes to encourage more poetry lovers worldwide to appreciate and practice tanka.

Corine Timmer is an interior designer, animal lover, haiku poet, and a self-published author. She lives in the countryside in the south of Portugal with 5 adopted cats, 12 adopted street dogs, 3 goats, and her beloved donkey, Lolita. Corine’s haiku have won awards and her work has been published in several print and web haiku journals and anthologies. In November 2018, she published an anthology of dog haiku, to celebrate the Year of the Dog. Proceeds went (and are still going) to street dog charities in Portugal. She is currently working on an anthology of pig haiku.

Beata Wrzal says: “I was born in Poland in 1967, educated in my hometown Deblin and in the capital – Warsaw. I came to UK in 1988 and made it my home. I have been working as a district nurse in London for the past 26 years.” Beata loves cats and her paintings and drawings, as well as her wonderful poems, continue to celebrate them.

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Comfy Cat (Photo – Beata Wrzal)

♣ We welcome and encourage your response, especially in the form of a short poem, by leaving a comment below.

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