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Buddha Cat and Cathryn Essinger
(3)Cathryn Essinger has graciously allowed me to share the poem below, which originally appeared in The New Zoo Poetry Review. Cathryn is the author of two poetry collections, A Desk in the Elephant House (Texas Tech University Press, 1998), winner of the Walt McDonald First Book Award, and My Dog Does Not Read Plato (Main Street Rag, 2004).
Koan in Black and White
On Groundhog’s Day, I set our fat black cat
out in the snow to ask her if she sees
her own shadow.Her flat yellow stare tells me all I need to know
about cats and snow and the inevitability
of spring.I decide to take her picture, hoping to capture
that petulant glare, but she blinks just as
the shutter clicksand my photo is nothing more than a silhouette,
neither front nor back, of a little black buddha
meditatingin a snowy field. But when I show the picture
to my husband, he who doesn’t believe in
superstitions,he who owns no lucky anything, all he can ask
is “Are we out of color film?” which I think
provessome point, and which he says, pointing to
the absence of the cat’s plump shadow,
proves nothing.
3 Responses to “Buddha Cat and Cathryn Essinger”
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Jane Kretschmann May 6th, 2005 at 11:32 am
Cathy’s poems says something about cats, beliefs–and husbands.
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Sherry May 6th, 2005 at 12:26 pm
Yes, indeed, it does.
Hello Jane.
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Vivian Blevins May 6th, 2005 at 3:00 pm
What a clever twist on what we all wonder about on Groundhog Day. This is something a child would do, knowing itf it works for a groundhog, why not for a cat.
I love the contrast in the narrator’s world view and that of her husband.
The poem has a calm easy rhythm juxtaposed with all the effort that really went into the process of photographing the cat.
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My Books
Dance the Black-Eyed Girl
My Will and Testament Is on the Desk
Artistic Support
Sherry has also received an Artist Enrichment grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
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