diederdas katzen alt und e-version
a mouse't introit
of gray-grey
snag-pylon
'round which in rainbow garb
und pied-measure
the Schicksals und muses waltz
I Clio
Clio
silver-gray sunrise
ashes at day's end
she sits
paws quill-pin'd
drawing inks from a ball of string -
fate itself out-thread spin of snake &n' rainbow
until snip't
into a life-sized bowl of milk
drying (tongue-wise...)
into a glaze of white on white
(or ghost on bone)
II Melpomene
in or out
all the world's astayge -
Tom savage'rys
that strut &n' go
return badge'd with wounds
full of hunger &n' sleep
as nook-by-room
bruised by instinct's wobbly ferris
mother &n'kits assume the rutty-furrow
until at last
each by all
are heard in mind's light only
III Thalia
in self measures
the Falstaffian snores
the Doll dozes restively
as belly-quiet &n' sphinx-like
the inn cat purrs
outside
it is snowing twilight
inn cat wakens
to the flinchy-drumings of candle &n' moth
overtones nudge
Falstaffians fart
Dolls start/mutter
candle (goes out) &n' moth -
where are they now?
(hear that?
the stars are clunking...
inn cat slow blinks
frowns
cheshires a laugh
made of cheddar'd silence
neighn lives (O' -
IV Calliope
ferris purrs-thru
yesterspokes come &n' go (again...
shedding a glitter of sand*
to be or not box't (for-
give the Thalian over-spoke...) anew
* char-ants follow f'r clean-up
that becomes an Ozymandus lyre
musics from a claw-strum'd rose
as menchheit - the begotten mouse&n'mouser -
domesticates harrow by hearth
another mix't hour's-worth
of ours-worth (yawn, alas, of full moon...
V Urania
night vision
but
nor tom nor mother nor kits
sees or recons their passage
from the star-font writ
of
Leo in the sky
nor by day do they
mis-know
that beneath the reaching arm
, or bush's overhang -
the origin of fondle &n' food
nor (bone in) can un-know
that for them &n' theirs
the owl in red-shift
is not the stuff of milk
or Hollywood
VI Euterpe
self's trio
cats have but a three-string
pure they stuffs
of meows purr'd-meows
&n'd the resonant growls
of grab-it or fight
who can guess what else?
otherwise
from April keeps
to when the leaves wither &n' down-strum
we sing for them...
VII Terpsichore
jete
up for ball swing
laser's insane Lebans
near-miss't bird
pure elan
or
escape's nearest fence
beneath the hissly branch of all things
this is how the sworl ends
" " " " " "
silent feet
parting fogs with pock't cursives
(repeat first
then second stanza (optional)
VIII Polymnia
toms
yawl in drunken fortes
moms
in curved altos
both (whatever they may
they whatever)
in a music too antique
for the nudge or bark of human words
window in
, window out -
XI Erato
comes now
Glenda the Good
safe from all but Trojan harps
the keeper of cats
Eros is as does
prone to vagabondia
whose passing shadow's enough
to (however un-handy the hour) grow love
from the pulse-deep strums
of self's virtuosity (O rose
o'rose...
winnowing (au talons -
against the engines of time* comes hard
* always/everywhere 'too o'clock'
a roll of milk-less dice
wounding the day along
until comes a cauter of stars
mixing, alas, the salts of preservation
with the sands of wither &n sting
still
Glenda the Good
keeper of cats subsumes
saves with her own muses &n' fates (ergos
&n' errors in the scheme of all things)
some in her room darkness
from itself
moon
, purr...
About this poem
This poem was written after the death of my beloved cat Chappy at the age of 16.
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Written on August 31, 2022
Submitted by leila.samarrai on September 10, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:16 min read
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Quick analysis:
Scheme | abxxcd efagaheaifax ajkexxxkeaxx ldexl aa dm jac mnah xxxx e oxapoxxqcxxr sagjatx bexxaexaia ehxdxa x xx x ahdaspxu x ad ax vxvq bcxx xa nAxx xaxtxqq xaxxxxsh xAdduxx rc |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 3,477 |
Words | 631 |
Stanzas | 28 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 12, 12, 5, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 1, 12, 7, 10, 6, 1, 2, 1, 8, 4, 2, 4, 4, 2, 4, 7, 8, 7, 2 |
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"diederdas katzen alt und e-version" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/139256/diederdas-katzen--alt-und-e-version>.
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