You imagine me, curled like a comma
in your lap, the rumble of my purr,
your fingers stroking silky fur,
and wonder why I walk alone.
I greet you with a gentle head butt
following a successful hunt;
however, my gift is unappreciated,
you grimace and refuse to eat it.
You fail to understand that I was born
into feline aristocracy; a mouse, a bird,
a butterfly is a honourable oblation
to my surrogate family.
While on your lap, I hunt in dreams
for perfection in feline poetry.
Kim M. Russell, 14th August 2024
This poem was originally published in Volume 10 Chapter 8 of Visual Verse on 22nd June 2023. Visual Verse is sadly no longer and their archives have gone elsewhere, so I have re-posted my poem for this week’s What’s Going On? prompt, which asks us to rain cat and dog poems onto the page, and celebrate each other’s furry familiars.




Such a cute cat poem! The close is spot on. Poetic cat indeed. Smiles.
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Thank you, Sumana!
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What a delightful poem and wonderful photos! I especially love your closing lines. And love the sunflowers too!
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Thank you, Sherry!
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A lovely poem, Kim. I do love cats.
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Thank you, Robbie!
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A perfect kitty poem 🙂 Well done.
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Thank you!
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Adorable.🥰
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Thanks Melissa!
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“I was borninto feline aristocracy”
Indeed! I love the voice in this poem, and especially love “curled like a comma.” Brilliant!
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Thank you, Susan!
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It’s amusing how humans try to humanise cats (and remain impossibly bewildered!) and so for the kitty to felinise humans is even more fun.
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Thank you, Shaun.
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I love how you delve into the mind of your lovely feline friend – Jae
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Thanks so much, Jae.
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I love the ending….purrfect…okay I had to …really the poem is delightful. My mother has a cat and once it caught a mouse and brought it to her in her bed…yikes…
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Thank you, Truedessa. Mojo, the youngest at eight years old, doesn’t hunt, although she does chase butterflies. However, Luna, the oldest at thirteen, often leaves corpses on the back step.
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I have an ongoing war with a neighbor cat (I assume, since he’s fat and healthy) who hunts the birds that come to my feeders. He has the most old-soul face, I almost hate to chase him away, but he kills my birds. He also fights with and banishes other cats who show up on “his” block. One day he somehow got into my garage and had a real donnybrook with something in there. I checked later to make sure he wasn’t in there injured or something, but he wasn’t. We are adversaries but respect each other. I respect his swagger and dignity and he respects my dog.
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I enjoyed reading about your feline visitor, Shay. We have visitors too, which annoys our own cats. That’s what I love about cats, they go their own way. But if they love you, they stick with you.
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Gorgeous cat poem and those last two lines caught my heart!
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Thank you!
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