11.Cattery
Marty went to Honeysuckle Farm
For Christmas and New Year
Cos I couldnt take him North with me.
It is a most luxurious cat place.
He had his own catflap out into his run.
He was given fresh tuna on Christmas Day.
And he was presented with a little cloth mouse
To keep him company.
Looked after night and day by the kennel girls
He lived the Life of Riley for a fortnight.
But he was pleased to see me
When I returned to collect him.
He chattered all the way home in the car.
He purred when he was back in the house.
Home's best.
12.Mavis
Mavis has bought Marty a mouse
From the new Cat Shop in Northumberland Place.
It is a tiny little grey mouse, chocolate grey,
Stinking of catnip,
A quarter the size of his black familiar.
He loves it,
Tossing it over his shoulder,
Dropping it on his biscuit dish,
The old black faithful
Don't get a look-in.
Marty is easily seduced by novelty.
I am jealous of Mavis's triumph
And go to the Cat Shop.
I buy Marty a similar white mouse,
But he don't love it,
Even though it has the same cute smell.
The chocolate grey mouse is top of the walk.
Marty has lost his grey mouse!
I look everywhere.
Then four hours later I find it.
Where he has thrown it
Down the side of his carrying basket.
Marty has been up to Hi-Do
And I have searched the house
From top to bottom.
Then I find it.
But a week later
The grey mouse is gone forever.
Heaven knows where it went.
I suspect the cleaning women
Put it in the rubbish sack
Because it had split
And the insides were falling out
All over the floor.
The grey mouse was gone.
But Mavis to the rescue!
She buys a replacement mouse
From the Cat Shop.
And Marty doesn't know the difference.
But nowadays the grey mouse is getting old,
And its insides are falling out.
I hope the cleaning women don't spot that
And put it in the rubbish sack.
How Marty would miss it.
And would the Shop have any left.
In the early morning if he has no food left
It is always the first mouse
He brings to my bed.
Even before his big black mouse
He has had since he was a kitten.
Seventy-year-old Mavis is the godmother of cats.
13.Cat Bell
Marty found a bird's nest.
Wicked cat.
He killed two of the youngsters
Bringing them as presents to me,
One brought beside my bed as I slept.
I went to the Pet Shop in Moorland Road
And bought him a bell,
A turquoise bell with a pretty jingle,
But I didn't have the heart to put it on him.
Then last Thursday night at two in the morning
There was great excitement in the house.
A whooping and hollering cat,
In from the catflaps,
Came dashing up the stairs
As I lay awake in bed.
Marty was squeaking all over the place.
I didn't move
Then he was up on the bed
Miaowing away.
I looked
And realised that he had dumped a dead bird on me.
A fully grown thrush,
Not a baby.
No wonder he was so pleased with himself.
And Marty only twelve months old.
I had to get up and put the bird in a plastic bag
And into the rubbish bin.
Fortunately it hadn't bled.
Next morning at eight o'clock
I put the turqoise bell on Marty.
He went hysterical.
Dashing around everywhere
With the Devil behind him.
Eventually he vanished outside
Through his catflaps,
A pretty jingling noise.
I had to go to my voluntary jobs
And it wasn't till four in the afternoon
That I returned to search for Marty.
I found him hiding upstairs on the spare bed.
A most unhappy cat.
He stayed there till well after dark
When he made a dash out through his catflaps
Jingling all the way.
He wasn't around next morning.
I went to two lunchtime folk concerts
At the Bath Festival
Then came home to find the score.
I had decided that if Marty
Was still in a dreadful state
I would remove the bell.
I found him in the Book Room
Buried in a pile of plastic bags.
One of his hideyholes.
I removed the bell,
And he was the happiest cat in the world,
Licking my face, purring uncontrollably.
Now he is back to himself again.
But I dread him killing another bird.
Douglas Clark, Bath, England mailto: [log in to unmask]
Lynx: Poetry from Bath .......... http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/lynx.html
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