"Foujita's Sleeping Cat"
the kitten is very cosy curled up and asleep
seemingly immune to the fuss of those who stand
and look at the acquatint, there are those
with their hands folded behind their backs,
some adopting the tricks of the expert,
moving forward and then backward so as to keep,
the others in suspense to what it is they are looking at,
and certainly what they see is not the little cat,
whose body has begun to move, the feet twitch
and the tail vibrate, and her belly has begun to undulate,
the pencil thin whiskers reach out and the cockle shell eyelids open,
the cherry blossom coloured tongue, first a bud then a
pink switch slapping against the muzzle, the ears pointed
triangles, stand erect, and then she begins to get up,
stretching out her form like a cantilever bridge,
her quill like nails pop out and then just as quickly
disappear into her tiny paws, now she has begun
to move in earnest, she describes first a circle
and then the shape of infinity, as she chases her
tail, then in her feline geometry, she traces a
rectangle, all done in euclidean playfulness,
all a rehearsal for when she will kill a mouse
and all this has taken place while the erst
while art critic is discussing cultural theories.
Stephen Pain
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