"yet here and now many/fine cats/with great style/lounge about/in the alleys of
the universe."
~Charles Bukowski
"I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them cats."
~ Eckhart Tolle
"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this."
~ Anonymous
Cats. The writer's totem animal? Clearly cats are much more revered in writing than 'the cat sat on the mat, with a hat, after a rat' mono syllable rhyme would let us know.
Le Chat Noir, the iconic Bohemian club for writers and artists in Montmartre, Paris, at the turn of the 19th century:
Hemingway with one of his beloved cats:
"A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.” ~ Ernest Hemingway
And another cat lover...
cats and you and me - Charles Bukowski
the Egyptians loved the cat
were often entombed with it
instead of with the child
and never with the dog.
and now
here
good people with
the souls of cats
are very few
yet here and now many
fine cats
with great style
lounge about
in the alleys of
the universe.
about
our argument tonight
whatever it was
about
and
no matter
how unhappy
it made us
feel
remember that
there is a
cat
somewhere
adjusting to the
space of itself
with a calm
and delightful
ease.
in other words
magic persists with
or without us
no matter how
we may try to
destroy it
and I would
destroy the last chance for
myself
that this might always
continue.
my cats - Charles Bukowski
I know. I know.
they are limited, have different
needs and
concerns.
but I watch and learn from them.
I like the little they know,
which is so
much.
they complain but never
worry,
they walk with a surprising dignity.
they sleep with a direct simplicity that
humans just can’t
understand.
their eyes are more
beautiful than our eyes.
and they can sleep 20 hours
a day
without
hesitation or
remorse.
when I am feeling
low
all I have to do is
watch my cats
and my
courage
returns.
I study these
creatures.
they are my
teachers.
I always had cats growing up, and we're currently cat sitting for a friend's cat for six months - she'll quite often come and curl on my lap when I'm writing :-) I think they're very much the writer's creature - intense and private and observant, but full of love and sweetness too.
ReplyDeleteI know I just love cats too! They are exactly that, as we writers are too :)
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