Saturday, August 28, 2010

Cat Prizes for Me

Dupree

We are old, he and I.
We walk more slowly
Than in our younger days.
But his tail is still held high
Like a plume on
The hat of a Victorian lady.
His topaz eyes still gleam.
Never a lap cat 'til now,
His old bones
Need our warmth
And my old bones find ease
In that soft, purring body.
Because we are old,
Dupree and I.

This is a poem I submitted to the WCLV (the Cleveland classical music station) for their Pet Poetry contest, along with a picture of Dupree. I won the grand prize, which consisted of a bunch of pet products and two tickets to the Blossom Festival and a CD of "Carnival of the Animals" and "Peter and the Wolf with Peter Schikele." I was quite surprised and if you go to WCLV's home page here you will see the whole thing. At least I think you will. It was read over the air twice and I missed it both times, since they did it on the early morning show when I am busy with the crossword puzzle and cannot be distracted.

2 comments:

SallyB said...

Great poem, Ma! Maybe that is why Dupree has become more of a lap cat of late, because he needs the warmth to soothe his aging cat bones. I could use some cat warmth on occasion to soothe my aching left knee, which is why I take every opportunity when I come over to visit with Herman while I am there. He's quite the lap cat and it's very soothing to have a purring cat on one's lap!

SallyB said...

Sorry to hear that the beloved beast has been in decline for the past few days. I hope it's merely temporary and that he snaps out of it, but then again, he's an elderly cat, and it could be (but I hope not) that his time with us is nearing an end. I hope this is not the case, as he's such a beautiful cat and has been so beloved by all of us throughout his long cat life despite his little oddities. Make sure he stays someplace relatively cool and gets plenty of fluids. I hope it's nothing more than the heat afflicting him. Wish I could bring him over to my air conditioned apartment to cool down somewhat. Keep me posted on how he's doing. Even though he's not my cat, I do love him quite dearly.