Monday, 17 October 2011

Charles Bukowski: startled into life like fire


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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Surprised_young_cat.JPG

Surprised cat, Leipzig: photo by Lipedia, July 2010




in grievous deity my cat
walks around
he walks and around and around
with
electric tail and
push-button
eyes

he is
alive and
plush and
final as a plum tree

neither of us understands
cathedrals or
the man outside
watering his
lawn

if I were all the man
that he is
cat --
if there were men
like this
the world would
begin

he leaps up on the couch
and walks through
porticoes of my
admiration.





Charles Bukowski (1920-1994): startled into life like fire, from Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame: Selected Poems 1955-1973, 1974
at

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous17 October 2011 at 07:54

    he leaps up on the couch

    They never seem to get muddy the way dogs do (and goats). Why not?

    Artur.

    ReplyDelete
  2. kent17 October 2011 at 10:49

    If I may Tom...

    'cause cats can't stand
    the feel of earth on fur
    like certain girls
    don't want you
    pawing their skin.

    Dawgs on the other hand,
    'specially herders & killers,
    take pride like swine:

    their canine shoulder
    to the muddy grindstone.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Robb17 October 2011 at 12:14

    I prefer dogs to tuotsest but I love Hank

    ReplyDelete
  4. ACravan17 October 2011 at 12:38

    Great cat, but surprised? I don't know about that. Curtis

    ReplyDelete
  5. aditya17 October 2011 at 13:03

    Funny thing Tom. I spent the morning writing something in my head. I'll show that to you sometime later .. i.e. once that I actually finish it. Not a great poem
    but then what is?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous17 October 2011 at 13:17

    They may not like it, Kent, but sometimes mud and puddles are inevitable. I suppose they take a cat scan and slink off to the dry cleaners.

    Artur.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nin Andrews17 October 2011 at 13:25

    irresistible

    ReplyDelete
  8. TC17 October 2011 at 13:40

    I think the reason why cats don't get furniture dirty is not because they have any innate respect for furniture but because they are so naturally fastidious. Those extensive cat scans (for fleas, zits & c.) and consequent bathings and groomings are a joy to behold. Bukowski reveled in and probably to some extent identified with the mobs of ferals with which he surrounded himself down in San Pedro.

    Curtis, the photographer said that the cat had been startled by some sudden noise...

    ReplyDelete
  9. vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras)13 May 2012 at 05:51

    "startled by some sudden noise" --the 8th life of boisterous Buk ?

    ReplyDelete
  10. TC13 May 2012 at 06:22

    That should make seven come eleven -- if Fibonacci was Serious.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Issa's Untidy Hut13 May 2012 at 07:45

    Oh, my, just when I think I've had enough of Mr. B., along comes:

    "in grievous deity my cat
    walks round ..."

    "neither of us understands
    cathedrals ..."

    "(he) walks through
    porticoes of my
    admiration."

    Absolutely perfect.

    Don

    ReplyDelete