Magnet Poetry: Playing with Poetry #playingwithpoetryNPM 23/30 #sol19

This month, I’m tagging along with Christie, Margaret, Jone, Mary Lee, and other writers to play with poetry for National Poetry Writing Month. I’ll be creating poems using haikubes, metaphor dice, magnet poetry, paint chips and anything else that catches my fancy.

I liked my Poetry Mega Set Word Magnets so much that I decided to order two more kits: Cat Lovers and Happiness. This poem uses words from all three kits.

be more cat
the world slows down for you
this hand is your mother
become infatuated with the possibility of bluebirds
your benevolent cunning finds perfect comfort everywhere
happiness is blue sky, flower, grass, sunshine
live the wild bliss of hunt and pounce
the force of your body is home
grow hope in ecstatic purrs
there is peace in this moment
be cat
be here

This is Barbara, mama to my four formerly feral kittens and a former feral herself. Although I had fed her outside for years, I was never able to pet her. It took my mom many patient months to tame her once she came inside. I wasn’t sure she’d ever take to indoor living or people, but now she’s a total cuddle bug and a really busy, cheerful, happy cat.

Barbara and her somewhat unwitting BFF, Fergus. She took one look at him and fell in love. It took him much longer to grow to tolerate her. But I think he likes her pretty well now. Not that he has had much of a choice in the matter.

Posted

April 23, 2019

cats, NaPoWriMo, poems

Elisabeth Ellington

Tags:

#napowrimo, #playingwithpoetryNPM, cats, magnet poetry, national poetry month

Comments

14 responses to “Magnet Poetry: Playing with Poetry #playingwithpoetryNPM 23/30 #sol19”

Juliana Ellington

April 23, 2019

I love your poem, and I especially love that you illustrated it with little Barbara. Those last words “Be cat/Be here” are so perfect for her. She is the most ‘in the moment’ cat I’ve ever had.

Reply
1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  April 23, 2019
  
  Barbara definitely lives in the moment–though mostly her moment seems to be finding something to play with and finding Fergus.
  
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arjeha

April 23, 2019

Great poem. “Be cat/be here” So often we live in the past or worry about the future that we fail to recognize what we have here in the present. Wise words. It is something to see what one cat will tolerate from another cat. Barbara and Fergus make a handsome couple.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  April 23, 2019
  
  It’s one of the things I love best about spending time with my cats. They mostly live in the present. Poor Fergus really has no choice with Barbara: she follows him around and bathes him and gets as close as he will allow. He likes his me time, but he doesn’t get much of it these days!
  
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Stacey Shubitz

April 23, 2019

Beautiful poem. I adore that it was inspired by a magnetic poetry kit. (I had one of those in my old college apartment. I miss it!)

Reply
1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  April 23, 2019
  
  I love the magnetic poetry kit! Lots of inspiration for poems there.
  
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glenda funk

April 23, 2019

“Be more cat” will be my mantra heading into the next stage of life. I like the images of cats in your poem: purring, observing nature. It’s all so blissful.

I can see the best of your cat poems and posts in a collection, Elizabeth. They’d be bookended w/ lovely cat photos. Your poem today would be fabulous on a calendar w/ Barbara. She’s a beautiful kitty.

Reply
1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  April 23, 2019
  
  Thank you, Glenda. Wow, what a compliment! I think “be more cat” is a fine mantra for life!
  
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writingandlaughing

April 23, 2019

Thanks for sharing this poem today! I loved being able to read it through the magnetic tiles – somehow seeing that format slowed down my brain to a more aware pace than just reading typed words on the screen. There is, indeed, peace in this moment!

Reply
1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  April 24, 2019
  
  I love the way the magnet tile poems look too. Can’t remember which blogger posted photos of her poems on the metal trays, but I liked how it looked and borrowed the idea.
  
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Amanda Potts

April 24, 2019

I’m with Glenda: I want a cat poem/post book! This line caught me today, “become infatuated with the possibility of bluebirds” – well, that and the final two. And I don’t think I’ve seen pictures of Barbara before – she’s beautiful! Also, while I was home sick last week I took approximately a bazillion pictures of Tippy, who spent much of my flu cuddled up with me. I really wanted to send some to you. Hey, I still might 🙂

Reply
1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  April 24, 2019
  
  Barbara did get to live with me for a couple of months after I trapped the feral kittens (I was trying to figure out how to trap her too, and awesome mama that she is, she heard the kittens crying inside the house and I opened the door and she came inside to find them! Even though she’d never so much as let me touch her before, she had no problem entering a scary building for those kittens!). My mom offered to let her try life as an indoor cat as she recovered from being spayed and spent months patiently taming her. She’s a great feral cat success story! Thank you hugely for the pictures of Tippy–she’s glorious!!
  
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Ramona

April 24, 2019

Oh, I love your cat posts and your cat poems and your cat pics. And to have all three together! What a delight. Barbara is beautiful, she’s regal, she’s here! Thanks for sharing her with us.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  April 24, 2019
  
  Isn’t Barbara adorable? I find her so charming. Thanks for the compliment!! Somehow I never tire of cat posts either!
  
  Reply