This Is Just to Say: Notes From a Cat #NaPoWriMo18 #NPM2018

zorro eating flowers.JPG

I have sat
on your keyboard
and erased
the message

which you
had spent
twenty minutes
writing

Forgive me
the keyboard felt
so warm
on my cold paws.

************

I woke you
at four a.m.
with piteous cries
and yowls

when you
were planning
to sleep
until seven

Forgive me
it was so dark
and my belly
was so empty.

*************

I knocked over
the flowers
that were in
the vase

which you
had placed 
so carefully
on the table

Forgive me
they looked much
prettier
on their sides.

*************

I scratched
your cheek
in the
dark

when you
did not want
to wake up
or bleed

Forgive me
the blankets are so heavy
and I prefer
when you lift them

Notes: I wanted to experiment with a false apology poem and decided it would be much more fun to write from the perspective of a cat. And I was right. Here is a photo of Zorro trying to eat tulips (which are toxic to cats, but apparently he doesn’t know that. Never fear: they were removed before he could actually bite them).

Posted

April 25, 2018

cats, NaPoWriMo

Elisabeth Ellington

Tags:

#napowrimo18, cats, false apology poems, poetry challenge, poetry writing month

Comments

9 responses to “This Is Just to Say: Notes From a Cat #NaPoWriMo18 #NPM2018”

glenda funk

April 25, 2018

Haha! That photo is priceless. I love the poems. Yes, cat point of view enriches them. If Hero were writing, she’d say, “I am sorry I drank the water you just poured. It tastes better than the toilet water, and I know you have given me fresh water and I can drink the water in the dog bowl that feeds from the fridge, but I prefer watching you go get a new glass after I’ve lapped from yours.”

Reply
1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  April 26, 2018
  
  I had a partial draft of one about the water glass too–we have the same issue here. We have two who are convinced that human water glasses contain much more delicious water than cat or dog water bowls. I took four or five photos of him with the flowers and he is blurry in every one because he is darting around and trying to snatch a bite before he gets removed!
  
  Reply
margaretsmn

April 26, 2018

These are hilarious and so true! My cat loves to try to eat the flowers. Roses are her favorite. She also wakes me up when the sun comes out even if it’s Saturday.

Reply
1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  April 26, 2018
  
  Luckily we have snugglers who are fine to stay in bed forever–but they do have to be under the covers, and the human has to lift the covers so they can have easy access.
  
  Reply
Amanda Potts

April 26, 2018

I just chuckled all the way through these. My cat Hera would (not) apologize for constantly begging for food (I followed you around yowling for food even though you just fed me – forgive me, food bowls are meant to be filled). Tippy would not even bother to fake apologize. Her poem would say, “I knocked over everything on the kitchen counter, and the table. And I scratched the couch again. And I tried to sleep on your head.” And then it would just end. Or maybe she would add, “You deserved it.” OMG now I’m laughing again – I think you need to create a cat false apology anthology. Heeheehee.

Reply
1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  April 26, 2018
  
  I could have written these forever. Really. It’s sad how much I loved writing from my cat’s perspective. When I see people write from their pet’s perspective, I always just think hmmm, I don’t know if I’d enjoy that, but then I tried it and it’s fun! I love the idea of the cat apology poem that ends before the apology. That is so very cat!
  
  Reply
carwilc

April 26, 2018

I love these! So clever written from the cat’s point of view!!!! My fourth graders loved, loved, loved writing false apology poems!

Reply
Ramona

April 26, 2018

So fun to read these apology poems from your cat! My favorite is the message erase.

Reply
Trina Haase

April 28, 2018

Oh, so smart! The perspective of a cat! My cat growing up was SO much like this. How I miss having a cat in our house!

Reply