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Monday 17 October 2011

Charles Bukowski: startled into life like fire


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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Surprised_young_cat.JPG

Surprised cat, Leipzig: photo by Lipedia, July 2010




in grievous deity my cat
walks around
he walks and around and around
with
electric tail and
push-button
eyes

he is
alive and
plush and
final as a plum tree

neither of us understands
cathedrals or
the man outside
watering his
lawn

if I were all the man
that he is
cat --
if there were men
like this
the world would
begin

he leaps up on the couch
and walks through
porticoes of my
admiration.





Charles Bukowski (1920-1994): startled into life like fire, from Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame: Selected Poems 1955-1973, 1974

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

he leaps up on the couch

They never seem to get muddy the way dogs do (and goats). Why not?

Artur.

kent said...

If I may Tom...

'cause cats can't stand
the feel of earth on fur
like certain girls
don't want you
pawing their skin.

Dawgs on the other hand,
'specially herders & killers,
take pride like swine:

their canine shoulder
to the muddy grindstone.

Robb said...

I prefer dogs to tuotsest but I love Hank

ACravan said...

Great cat, but surprised? I don't know about that. Curtis

aditya said...

Funny thing Tom. I spent the morning writing something in my head. I'll show that to you sometime later .. i.e. once that I actually finish it. Not a great poem
but then what is?

Anonymous said...

They may not like it, Kent, but sometimes mud and puddles are inevitable. I suppose they take a cat scan and slink off to the dry cleaners.

Artur.

Nin Andrews said...

irresistible

TC said...

I think the reason why cats don't get furniture dirty is not because they have any innate respect for furniture but because they are so naturally fastidious. Those extensive cat scans (for fleas, zits & c.) and consequent bathings and groomings are a joy to behold. Bukowski reveled in and probably to some extent identified with the mobs of ferals with which he surrounded himself down in San Pedro.

Curtis, the photographer said that the cat had been startled by some sudden noise...

vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras) said...

"startled by some sudden noise" --the 8th life of boisterous Buk ?

TC said...

That should make seven come eleven -- if Fibonacci was Serious.

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Oh, my, just when I think I've had enough of Mr. B., along comes:

"in grievous deity my cat
walks round ..."

"neither of us understands
cathedrals ..."

"(he) walks through
porticoes of my
admiration."

Absolutely perfect.

Don