Write On! Features: Cats In Poetry by Jilly Henderson-Long

By Jilly Henderson-Long

Like many people, I grew up with pets. From the age of around six, right up to my mid-30s, hardly a day went by where I was not involved with one pet or another. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that at one time during my early years, our tiny council home contained eight cats, two dogs, a bunny rabbit and a budgerigar. Oh! Plus the family, of course. The first article I saw published (which earned me the princely sum of £5), was entitled Jimmie. I was 16 at the time. It told the story of a stray cat my family had adopted when I was very young. My last cat died back in 2007 and a tribute to her appears at the end of this feature. It’s one of my many poems about pets – and in particular – cats, I’ve penned over the years.

So, just what is it about cats that attracts so many writers? Is it their mystique? Or the way their eyes betray their many moods? Do we perhaps see ourselves mirrored in those eyes; do they betray our many moods? There are many cat-related books on the market, including the likes of James Bowen’s ever-popular series about A Street Cat Named Bob, James Herriot’s Cat Stories, The Warrior Cats series by Erin Hunter and, for young children, Judith Kerr’s delightful series about Mog, The Forgetful Cat. Even writers such as Margaret Atwood and J R R Tolkien have been inspired to write about cats.

But it’s poets who really seem to find these mysterious, lovable and often untameable beasts the most inspiring. From amazing poems by haiku masters such as Basho and Issa, to William Blake’s haunting The Tyger, to Edward Lear’s humorous The Owl And The Pussycat (incidentally one of the few poems from childhood that I can still remember word for word), cats and poets have been intertwined for centuries, whether they like it or not!

cats fighting in the night
howling in the moonlit hush
claws clashing like swords

cat sleeping purring
curled up on the red sofa
in a shaft of sun

Both of these poems were published in a small anthology entitled Poems For Cat Lovers (Cherrybite Publications), along with four others I’d written, back in the early 2000s. They came from my own experiences as a ‘cat mummy,’ as in the following:

dead bird on the floor
the cat sits beaming proudly.
“Happy Birthday, Mum”

One of the most famous books of cat poetry just has to be T S Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats. Inspired by his personal affection for all things feline, his interpretations of cat psychology first appeared in letters he had written to his godchildren. The book, originally published in 1939 by Faber & Faber, features a diverse group of cats, each with their own character and story to tell. It eventually led to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical Cats, which – along with the book – remains as popular now as it ever did.

Possibly less well known is Paul Gallico’s Honourable Cat, published in 1972 by Heinemann. As a child, Gallico lived in an apartment block where the keeping of pets was strictly prohibited. He believed that his yearning for a cat of his own began then. After he moved to Devon in his mid-30s, he found himself hosting 28 cats and one Great Dane. In the book’s opening pages, he explains how the cats were everywhere, hanging from the curtains, sitting on his desk, filling the stairs and overseeing the world from the top of the garden wall. This love of and respect for cats clearly inspired his work. It’s amazing how, through his poems, he interprets their behaviour in relation to the human world all around them.

Honourable Cat is a big, beautiful book for cat and poetry lovers everywhere. Illustrated throughout with colour and black and white photographs taken by Japanese artist, writer and photographer Osamu Nishikawa, the 72 photos feature cats of every conceivable breed, size, colour and shape: long-haired, short-haired, cats with no hair at all. Cats with blue eyes, green eyes, amber eyes, yellow eyes and pink eyes; tortoiseshell cats, tabby cats, ginger and two-tone cats – and more –  are all represented. Furthermore, the photos perfectly complement the poems.

In Butterflies Were Made To Chase, he describes how two kittens chase and catch a butterfly which they clearly regret when it lay in the grass and sighed, sadly with its wings.

Not On The Bed really resonated with me because a cat I once had was not allowed on the bed at all as she got older, purely because she would inevitably howl to be let out at two am!

The very titles of Paul Gallico’s poems are, in themselves, a remarkable insight into the way a cat’s mind may work:Night Watcher, The Communal Bowl and Always On The Threshold are all self-explanatory. An image of a kitten moving stealthily across a table laid with dinner can only be accompanied by a poem entitled Lead Me Not Into… while The Catnip Dance perfectly illustrates the behaviour of every cat that gets a whiff of the stuff!

The poems are thought-provoking, witty and whimsical; certainly causing the reader to sit and reflect, maybe even asking themselves just who this master race is! It may not be the kind of book you can take on your daily commute but, curled up on a settee in your comfy slippers, perhaps with a purring companion at your side, will – I guarantee – improve your sense of wellbeing. I suggest you read the book and see for yourself. I wouldn’t ask a cat, though. It’s quite possible they already know who the master race is!

A Personal Tribute To My Beautiful Girl

She’s looking at me
with large, green, beguiling eyes,
contented, purring,
happy that I am there
sharing precious time with her.
she’s my little rock,
my small unattached shadow.
She understands me and
loves me unconditionally.
She really is
My Beautiful Girl

For Mischief,who lived to the healthy and ripe old age of 19 and who, for many years, met me at the front door every time I walked through it. I miss her still.