PR–184

Quizzical Eyes, Inquiring As to Your Faith

Life is like a cat sometimes
In your lap perhaps spurred on or purred out
She jumps off preferring the couch

And with muzzle-snide paw-licking slaps
Asides that seem such a cruel
And pale wraith of former moments

With cat larynx spherical music
Which champagne had gone
To your head but then you wake

And she’s in your lap again
With quizzical eyes
Inquiring as to your faith
 

PR–236

When God Speaks Through the Eyes of Animals

It is so sweet
When God speaks
Through the eyes of animals

I saw a dog in the streets
Of Antigua, Guatemala:
Unbelievably skinny
Bones protruding

My heart was hurting;
So I gave him chicken
I’d had in my mochila

I looked back as I went on
And the dog for all his need
Found it more important than eating
To stare at me all my way out of sight

Maybe he was thinking
How sweet it is when God
Speaks through the kindness of strangers
 

New PR–3

Horses Are Very Loving, Can Be Tamed

Somerset Maugham I believe
Called it the razor’s edge–
I call it the bucking bronco

Yes the mind by tradition
Is a horse
And it’s out to throw you off

But you know horses
Are very loving
Can be tamed
 

New PR–194

The Lap of Sweet Alicia

Certain cats I’m not
Naming any names
Don’t stash themselves in your lap

Out of love but rather
For the cheap Pavlov connection
Of that you feed them

My cat however Dahlia took two years
And her honied time to finally sleep by me
And still she never does laps

In the light of day
Except if it’s of course the lap of sweet
Alicia hasta my Dahlia’s de rigor

Adoring purring look with her
Snout just about an inch
From Alicia’s face

Alicia says no doubt out of tact
But betraying some pride in the fact:
“I am a cat whisperer”
 

New PR–287

My Behind the Screen Machine:

I get to play God with my cat:
She doesn’t know of my
Behind the screen machine:

I am always in gear for her dinner
Her security and she knows it not
But I do

And there is
(Plain as dew on a rose)
Some charm in that
 

New PR–302

I Have it! Love and Intuition!

I tell you its supernatural
The way Tin Tin’s dog saw
What was coming

And pulled the right trigger
And what are they saying?
That dogs are that smart?

No clearly not it
Defies verisimilitude
So what then?

What’s left?
Oh I have it!
Love and intuition!
 

PR3–7

The Miracle of a Silent Smile

A smile of acknowledgement from one
A sweet reassurance from a teacher
I’ve seen love in the eyes of my cat
And yet

Some say it’s not enough
To prove the existence of love
And laughter no
It has to be constant when even this their

Preferred façade of a world changes with
The whim of their wind and yes
Let’s see these critics
Show us what they’ve got instead:

Dress themselves up as God and after
They are thus invisible
Show some humility then perhaps
Prove the miracle of a silent smile?

PR3–30

I Love the Love

Have you heard of the classic
Experiment with two monkeys?

There was a red light
And a green button

When the red light came on
A defender monkey had to

Push the button pretty fast
Or his buddy monkey would

Receive an electric shock
And when they were both examined

For ulcers
You’d think the ulcer boy would be

The buddy facing the shocks
But the defender got the ulcers

I don’t know about human nature
But I love the love in monkey nature
 

PR3–48

Confined, and Hard Up for Entertainment

Do animals have a sense of humor?
It just occurred to me you never see
A squirrel pounce upon a robin
Then run off laughing indeed

I don’t think animals have a verifiable laugh
(Though perhaps a merry twinkle in the eye?)
But my theory is
Humor is a sophisticated thing

Requiring an intellect
I do have proof
Because I’ve seen animal humor
Though you have to go high to the hominids:

It was in my youth in the Griffith Park Zoo
A gorilla had his little house
With a hidden drinking fountain inside
He would saunter out

Approach the fence
With a sky is blue attitude
And wait with baited breath
For the too-close inquisitives

Upon whom when within range
He’d unload a mighty face-drenching
Sploosh and there was obvious merriment
As he danced back to his house to reload

Of course it would get old for us
The same story so often told
But let’s see you confined and
Hard up for entertainment
 

PR3–50

My Cat Has a Willing Suspension of Disbelief

My cat has a willing suspension of disbelief:
I can throw her a terry cloth mouse
And she jumps she bats it around
With her de rigueur gleam in the eye

And she gets in my lap and pretends
That I’m her mother
Kneading as if my legs had breasts

Where am I going with this?
Some times I wish I were more like my cat

But with a Godly gleam in my eye
 

PR3–65

The Cognoscenti Can Look Around

It’s just a matter of imitating
God like now

When I pass my cat Dahlia
And scratch her head

(Emblematic to her of my affection)
Her eyes show she feels

Secure and loved just like
The cognoscenti can look around

And feel surrounded
By God
 

PR3–129

Like Fine Wines, the Stars Are Out

I look into my cat’s eyes
I view Dahlia’s sighs of signs
No doubt she’s content
(For the portent of her slowly blinking eyes)

But I wonder how to actualize her eyes:
(Translate them to my own mystic terms)
I mean even the meditation of an amethyst
Exists on its own beautiful wave-tone

(It’s done on purples and Grecian urns)
Because Beauty in is Beauty out
And tonight too (like fine wines)
The stars are out
 

PR3–176

Just Fed a Guatemalan Street Dog

I know you’re not supposed
To think of their gratitude not allowed
To dwell on what a great guy you are
But an animal can clarify the issue

Like I just fed a Guatemalan street dog
Bones protruding
Nursing a litter somewhere
But too afraid to come when I called

With my bowl of food in hand I had to
Back off twenty paces to make her feel safe
To approach the food
And even though I stood by

For the pure pleasure of watching her eat
A stray bullet thought occurred
About if she was grateful
Or not

But with animals you get off the hook
Because next thought up is first she’s a dog
(Bigger hearts than brains)
And second she was scared

And when you’re scared
You don’t think straight
So it was good practice for me
Not needing a thing from this poor dog

My only need was just
To stand and to stare
As if an eating dog
Were the Mona Lisa