Traveling Cat

 (second version)

He was a traveling cat. He raced

and slunk, padded and trotted, sleek

and balanced, tendons full of

future speed.  He moved soundlessly

but for a hiss or a yowl now

and then, or a crazy crash,

never his fault. Yes,  a

questing cat, moving from this to

that, from at to at, detecting

motion, smooth as lotion, reading

air, decoding sounds from

everywhere. Itinerant and

cool, self-possessed and freely

feline--leonine, nined up with lives,

purring worries, cagey but uncaged,

guileless and wise.  Green eyes.

2020

Cat's Eyes Haiku

pupils of a cat's
eyes: flat black stones
under pale green waters


hans ostrom 2019

Epistemological Hash: Sheesh

A cat for instance is routinely perplexed--
not alarmed but calmly
situated in ignorance, seeking to understand.
--Whereas humans
have evolved, so to speak, into the expectation
that they have a right to know
and understand all
in a big goddamned hurry. Often they state

that expectation with believed nonsense,
hideous lore, and all manner of bullshit.
And anyway, what if science epitomizes Zeno's
Paradox, always advancing but never
finally knowing, so that human seeking

finds that the essence of the universe
is never quite what and not really there--
not a bad prospect, if you think rationalism
sans romance is, albeit necessary, a
bit of a bore. I see
I've made quite a hash of things here.


--hans ostrom 2015

"How to Be a Cat," by Hans Ostrom

"Tame Cat," by Ezra Pound