Poem 87

Our cat Sooty and his unfortunate end … this was published in The Listener and drew a letter from NZ jazz singer Malcolm McNeill wondering if I would like to write him lyrics … to my shame I never got around to replying – jazz was not really my thing besides which I was busy giving up writing poetry …

( I like the grasshoppers clicking on and off … and camellia headlights in the dark green tree has always stayed with me … )

Leaping Sleep

My cat sleeps beside me in the garden
   at full stretch
as if leaping
             his black fur burns the grass away
grasshoppers click on and off around him 
   like hard brown stars
birds muscle their songs
and their shadows through the branches
        whacked out of their heads on bravado

my cat is deep
                 so deep his paws don't twitch
he swells with breath he takes in and
    forgets to let go
he is at full stretch as if leaping sleep
leaping constellations
leaping the heavy exhaust of the hydrangeas
  camellia headlights 
in the dark green tree
leaping inside the mad factory of birdsong
   like a small hurricane of sound
my cat sleeps beside me
under the ground