Last Night @ 7:15
Mumbo reappeared
at Our Front Door
She spent The Night
on the floor of Hunter’s Room
on a sheep fleece
and greeted Me This Morning
when I called Her “Mumbolette”
She took 2 laps of water, no treats
and Hunter decided to give Her
a Cortisone Pill
She sat on the mat by the kitchen door
but We wouldn’t let Her Out
Even Then She Vanished
I looked all over the house
including the basement
and just now found Her
upstairs under Our Bed
I let Mumbo out This Morning
She had eaten nothing
and was sitting by the kitchen door
She sat on the deck
where I thought She might stay
the next thing I knew
She was wandering briefly
dark in The Neighbours’ Drive
She disappeared.
–
At lunchtime I heard from Hunter:
“Mumbo, where are You?”
Mumbo is camped out
on Our Black Cat Mat
in Hunter’s Room
— really The Family Room —
She had about a teaspoon
of evaporated milk
but managed to eat a few cat treats
earlier today
so maybe She’s not
on Her Last Legs
I just finished settling Mumbo
on a fish-shaped padded mat
sewn by Eliza
a long time ago —
I gave Mumbo some evaporated milk
which She took
is She stationed here
in My Hawk Kitchen
on Her Mat behind My Grandmother’s Chair?
why wait for a cat to die
before writing about Her?
She has been gone all morning
frail in the wind
having eaten nothing
but peed on the lawn
shall I write of Her
in The Past Tense?
She was a wonderful kitty
born of enthusiasm
demanding
ferocious pettings
a black-and-white cat
I named Mumbo
Who was ready for anything
M(eye) Daughter’s Name
is whispered in The Restaurant
with Her Face covered
except for Her Left Eye
covered by a cell phone
texting messages to a German in Mexico
on M(eye) Fifty-First Birthday
She announces Eye am
The Most Graceful Eater
She Has Ever Known
"No Body's Gonna Mess W' My Super Cat!" Today I got My Super Cat -- not the tabby from My Childhood -- Today I got ASTRO -- The Longest Living Cat From The Pound -- The Biggest, Sleekest, Blackest Cat picked out by Me when All I had To Go By was a dark and haunted face sticking out from a butterflied cat bed advertising He Was Free! (since He'd been there over a year the adoption fee would be waived) but now He's worth My Life -- I don't have to say "He's My Mascot!" This Is All I Have To Say -- and I've said it to Him already: "Astro, Wherever YOU go, I GO" - written by Joanna Gilman Hyde Blair on December 2nd in The Year 2010 (& not written in Her Diary)
