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On Cats and Love
My cat does not explain himself.
He knows his reasons. Why must I?
He needs to bathe while on a shelf
Or hunt some trash? I don’t care why.
I do not need to understand.
I love him since he’s loyal, kind,
And brings me joy. I don’t demand
To comprehend his inner mind.
And you and I could love like that,
Could share a heart but not a brain.
I might confuse you like a cat,
But you don’t need me to explain
My soul to you since this is true:
To cats, we humans seem insane.
.
.
Pirate Costume
Plastic sword to the sky,
Makeshift patch on my eye,
I yell, “Arrrrgh!” at my dad
And I charge at his thigh.
And he lets me be bad
And he cries out in fear
While I capture his tie
And I give him a leer
And a devilish grin
That suggests that I’m mad,
Though I’m just three feet high.
Then I turn him around
And I yell, “Walk the plank!”
And I poke at his butt
And he jumps to the ground.
Then I give him a spank
With my sword. From my gut,
I release a guffaw,
A maniacal sound.
Daddy flips on his back
And his arms start to draw
Me on down to his chest
As a counterattack.
He’s now hugging me tight.
I resist it at first,
Being fondly compressed,
’Cause defeat is the worst,
But I give up the fight
Since my time with my dad is the best.
.
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Benjamin Cannicott Shavitz received his PhD in linguistics from the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. He lives in Manhattan, NYC, where he was born and raised. He has published two collections of his own poetry (Levities and Gravities), as well as an anthology of public domain poems by New York City poets (Songs of Excelsior). His work has also been published in The Lyric. He runs two online businesses: one that teaches innovative, linguistically informed classes on language skills, including poetry writing, and one that offers dialect coaching for actors. See www.kingsfieldendeavors.com for an overview of his activities and www.kingsfieldlinguistics.com or www.phoneticsforactors.com for his businesses.
Dear Benjamin, as a cat lover myself, I enjoyed every bit of ‘On Cats and Love’. It truly made my day. I found your second poem amusing too; it beautifully portrays the joyful father-son moment. Thank you for these.
**I think there’s a typo in S3, L1 of ‘On Cats and Love’: ad should be and.
I really enjoyed both of your poems Benjamin. I too like cats, dogs too but cats aren’t quite so needy, in my opinion. Your father-son poem is a lot of fun and I can picture the delightful scene playing out as I read.
“On Cats and Love” is both perceptive and problematic. Quite true that human persons can and do love without understanding the mind of the beloved. But as you point out, Benjamin, this is of necessity when the lovers are of different species. Still, for humans, there is something to the expression, “soul mates.” It can apply to the love of family and friends as well as more intimate loves who become close in thought and ideas. Thus your speaker seems rather selfishly catty at the end of the poem!
Two great poems. I was dreading ‘Pirate Costume’ going all melancholy and maudlin, but it didn’t, making the poem all the more memorable – hats off for not taking the easy route.
Thanks for the reads, Benjamin.