Me, Bukowski, and Our Cats

This cat was always around me,
it didn’t leave me alone.
And, most times, I didn’t mind.
It just quietly prowled the room,
and then found a place to curl up
and sleep.
I remember one night
the cat was lying next to me
on the bed,
and sometimes it would check to see
if climbing on top of me
would be possible.
It rarely said anything,
and it never asked anything.
It just provided some calm company,
and I guess
I provided her
the same.

Sometimes,
when I heard the cat mewing outside my door,
wanting me to let her in,
or when I saw her licking her paws
as she sat in my chair,
I would wonder if he ever heard,
or saw,
these same things,
as he was writing
all those years ago.

He often mentioned the 4 or 5 cats
that he lived with
later in his life,
in his poems.
And while I’ve never been much of a cat person,
I can at least take comfort,
and smile,
knowing that I might share this
common experience
with him,
while acknowledging
the huge difference
in the
quality
of our writing.

 

 

About the Poet:
Mark Martyre is a Canadian writer and musician. His prolific songwriting has produced 4 full-length studio albums since 2012: Down, Record (2012), London (2013), Red Letters (2014), and Bluebird (2016), as well as several live records, and bootlegs. His music has garnered critical acclaim and attention both nationally and internationally, and in 2016 he published a collection of his lyrics. For more information visit www.markmartyre.com

 

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