September 26th

 

the wood mouse pulls his

dried red onion peel blankets

over his slim back

settled and warm in

his cosy borrower bed

whisker twitch – goodnight!

 

Two Haikus squished together today.

Our cat Katie had brought in a mouse, got bored and let it go. She’s so fickle, like an Roman Emperor, she normally revels in bloodshed, but she just gave up on this one. No idea how long it was living behind the chest under the stairs, but it seemed to be building an extension. The bed was lovely. Lots of onion peels. Looked quite cosy. We tried to catch it (to let it go) but it escaped into the bathroom and we think it’s squeezed into a tiny gap under the bath.

There’s only one thing for it, non-lethal traps! Filled with peanut butter!

August 16th

eyes wide reflected

nocturnal adventurer

blinks and disappears

Katie our cat isn’t spending much time in the house in these mild and balmy evenings. She’s off, hunting and gallivanting. We rarely see her.

July 16th

 

flying squirrel launched

sailing from the curtain rail

four paws splayed in air

The cat was sitting next to me whilst I worked on the PC yesterday. I thought of her as a kitten, she could run effortlessly up the curtains like spider-cat. Coming down was the fun bit.

I wrote a longer poem about her, probably the soppiest thing I’ve ever written, I emailed it to D, it was for her. I don’t want to ruin my hardman reputation by publishing it!

June 24th

 

innocent bullfinch

red rusty gate sighs close by

calls his mate and flies

A bullfinch landed right near me in the garden today. It’s quite rare to see one up close. It was oblivious to me as I was sitting so still, so it sat on a low branch in one of the rowan trees and cooed it’s sad rusty gate song very quietly. I think it saw the cat after a few seconds when her ears pricked up in curiosity. The bullfinch and his mate, which was perched in the willow, then flew together into the eucalyptus, where he sang for a bit more, then they both flew off. Lovely colourful birds.

pic from rspb website

May 23rd

Shaded by rowan

to rest on a bed of leaves

listening to doves

Our cat Katie has been labouring with a back injury of late, she hasn’t got the confidence in springing at the moment, so on vet’s instruction we’re monitoring her, to see if she’s showing any improvement.

It may be that’s she’s just getting old of course, poor thing. She likes it when we’re outside, she feels safe around us, knowing we’ll look after her and the likelihood of her having to sprint away from danger is minimal.

Well, today, what with it being beautifully hot, even into the evening, I fully expected her to lie in his usual spot, a little curled cat shaped indentation in the leaf litter, wedged between the trunk of the rowan tree and the edge of the decking. She didn’t oblige me as she wanted to stay up on the table of course.

I love that cat’s are so fickle. So this Haiku is for Katie, we love her very much!

April 29th

Disconsolate wail

sick yellow light stains the air

oak breathes and listens

A cat wailed outside our door, Katie (our cat) wasn’t impressed by this, sometimes she’ll get up and investigate, but she just raised her head from the sofa and looked at me, almost suggesting I look out the window for her, as she was too lazy to get up herself.

Which I did of course, you shouldn’t defy a cat right?

I peeped through the curtains, couldn’t see any living thing, whatever cat it was it was probably annoyed at being hammered by the unrelenting rain and just coincidentally happened to voice its disapproval outside our door. My view was just the usual dim yellow of the street lamp, polluting the road and cars like a set from some cheap noir film. It was all two tone, yellow and black. The only thing I could hear was the patter of rain.

Our oak door, sturdy and alive was stretching itself into spring, it shrinks and groans with the seasons. Whatever cat it was, our door was fast shut. Behind this barrier, I thought about catching some sleep. Katie looked at me, satisfied with my work, she told me I was allowed.

February 27th

Toying paws a blur,
Animated killer stalks,
Mouse rescue required.

This story has a happy ending, Debbie rescued the mouse that Katie caught and brought in to play with, it got released back into the paddock behind our garden. Katie always looks so pissed off when we take live (or dead) animals off her. She used to bring them as presents, but seeing that we didn’t eat them or thank her for them, she just ignores us now and concentrates solely on her own self gratification.

February 12th

Paw twitch, blissful smile,

Hot sun, splayed in meadow grass,

Birdsong, Katie dreams.

 

While I was writing my other blog on Art by Animals, our cat Katie was in the room, asleep on her (current) favourite chair (she rules the roost, she changes her favourite place periodically whilst simultaneously dislodging any human from that place).

Although Katie and cats in general sleep around twenty hours a day, I rarely see her go into a deep sleep. She only does this when she feels safe enough to do so, often just opting for the “foxes doze”, one eye ready to open. Not that she’s got any reason to feel unsafe, but as she has a catflap, she’s always aware that an intruder may come in and she’ll have to shoo them off if we’re not around.

So anyway, whilst I was writing, she was dreaming, the corners of her mouth curled up in a little smile* and her paw was twitching, no doubt a lovely dream about her youth, stalking and catching birds. She’s got a happy life bless her. Cats and especially Katie are wonderful companions. And I don’t care if you compare me to the Cat-Lady in the Simpsons.

*I know cats can smile. Look! She’s smiling in her sleep!