The 60-Second Sabbath

The Cats and the Closet

Our cats regularly ask
to be admitted
to the closet under the stairs.
They look up and meow,
then eagerly enter
when we open the door.
This, we believe,
is their wardrobe,
their entrance to whatever feline Narnia
    beckons from the other side.

Our clocks indicate
they've been gone only a few minutes,
but for them?
It could be days, months, years...
On that side,
They may be prowling princes
ruling over kingdoms of mice and moths.
They may be sable-cloaked explorers,
mapping menacing, overgrown lawns,
or feather-crowned high priests
in service to Bast.

Or perhaps they spend their days
lounging in leather club chairs
before enormous fireplaces
while dogs in tuxes
serve them tuna bites, grasshopper poppers
    and chilled catniptinis.

When they return
they seem unchanged,
but who knows, really,
what fresh wisdom they bring
to our sweet lives?

Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

How Poetry Works

"Poetry?
No, I generally don't read poetry.
I don't get it."

"Of course not," she said.
"You don't get poetry-
poetry gets you."

Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Prayer for the Cat

Lord bless the paw
that touches the cheek
that bears the tears
that cleanse the heart
that's battered and scarred.

Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Corduroy

Was going to write something this morning,
but then a cat climbs up on my lap
and curls into a tight, plump, capital "C,"
settling onto the brown, wide-wale corduroy
of the bathrobe my mother sewed for me
over thirty years ago,
and then the cat rests his face
on my writing hand,
so what can I do?

I just breathe in and out
and feel the cat's warmth
sink through the corduroy
as the cat feels my warmth
rise through the corduroy
and all of it mediated
by my mother's desire--
over decades and the threshold of death--
to keep us cozy.

So anyway,
that's why I didn't write anything this morning.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

God's Lap

Oh, to curl in God's lap
the way my cat curls in mine,
to feel a strong hand steadying my side,
to feel breath rise and fall
deeper, slower than mine.

Oh, to trust so completely.
Oh, to so melt.

And when God gets up to complete some task
(the cosmic equivalent of emptying the dishwasher
or getting the kids off to school),
oh, to contentedly shift to a couch cushion
and continue drowsing in that soothing, unceasing Presence.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Happy Cat

Two paws knead the air--
Open, extend, close, withdraw,
Repeat. Pure contentment.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Conditioning

I, the tiger,
lean and sinewy,
pace my cage--
    ten steps to the east,
    ten steps south,
    ten steps west,
    pause,
    ten steps north...

Then one day,
the cage is gone--
    no more bars,
    no more keeper--
    in all directions,
    only freedom.

But I continue to pace--
    ten steps to the east,
    ten steps south,
    ten steps west,
    pause,
    ten steps north... 

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Catku

Cat sleeps around cat.
Sable bodies become one--
union, no pretense.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Glamourpuss

This cat
gives new meaning
to the word
glamourpuss.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Willy and Romeo

My cats are clothed
    in night.
In darkness
    they disappear.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.