Sherry Chandler » catblog–a placeholder title I forgot to change
catblog–a placeholder title I forgot to change
Photo by T. R. Williams
#507
She sights a Bird — she chuckles —
She flattens — then she crawls —
She runs without the look of feet —
Her eyes increase to Balls —
Her Jaws stir — twitching — hungry —
Her Teeth can hardly stand —
She leaps, but Robin leaped the first —
Ah, Pussy, of the Sand,
The Hopes so juicy ripening —
You almost bather your Tongue —
When Bliss disclosed a hundred Toes —
And fled with every one —
— Emily Dickinson, text from wikisource
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3 Comments
1. Tommy replies at 1st August 2008, 9:20 am :
I shoulda been able to tell at a glance that this was a Dickinson poem. The dashes are a dead giveaway.
I don’t know the verb “to bather,” but I’m tickled by the hundred-Toed Bliss scurrying away.
2. mike lovell replies at 1st August 2008, 10:55 am :
I once had a cat, B.C., growing up in rural Iowa. This cat would get out into the “high” grass section of our lawn, fully in stalking mode of a bird. In addition to all his preparations, just before he would spring into actin he got this definitive butt-wiggle. He was so focused that everything else he was oblivious to, and you could easily creep up behind him. Just as the butt-wiggle commenced, you could tap him just above the tail….he’d jump 10 feet rotating in the air and letting out a startled yowl, the bird would get spooked, and B.C would land that 10 feet away while fully arched and puffed up. God I loved that cat!
3. MSW replies at 2nd August 2008, 9:41 am :
Now there’s a pose common to all cats. Just like the urge to hunt things they can’t catch. Not that the cats I live with now are interested in hunting much, except maybe feet. Like Tom, I should have been able to tell this was Dickinson before I got to the end. Now that I know, of course, it’s easy for me to say that it has that peculiar sound that her poetry seems to always have, and the clever language that probably cost more effort than people who don’t write poetry know. (I really ought to try again, one of these days.)
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