Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO WINKY, by AMY LOWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Cat, cat / what are you Subject(s): Animals; Cats | ||||||||
Cat, Cat, What are you? Son, through a thousand generations, of the black leopards Padding among the sprigs of young bamboo; Descendant of many removals from the white panthers Who crouch by night under the loquat-trees? You crouch under the orange begonias, And your eyes are green With the violence of murder, Or half-closed and stealthy Like your sheathed claws. Slowly, slowly, You rise and stretch In a glossiness of beautiful curves, Of muscles fluctuating under black, glazed hair. Cat, You are a strange creature. You sit on your haunches And yawn, But when you leap I can almost hear the whine Of a released string, And I look to see its flaccid shaking In the place whence you sprang. You carry your tail as a banner, Slowly it passes my chair, But when I look for you, you are on the table Moving easily among the most delicate porcelains. Your food is a matter of importance And you are insistent on having Your wants attended to, And yet you will eat a bird and its feathers Apparently without injury. In the night, I hear you crying, But if I try to find you There are only the shadows of rhododendron leaves Brushing the ground. When you come in out of the rain, All wet and with your tail full of burrs, You fawn upon me in coils and subtleties; But once you are dry You leave me with a gesture of inconceivable impudence, Conveyed by the vanishing quirk of your tail As you slide through the open door. You walk as a king scorning his subjects; You flirt with me as a concubine in robes of silk. Cat, I am afraid of your poisonous beauty, I have seen you torturing a mouse. Yet when you lie purring in my lap I forget everything but how soft you are, And it is only when I feel your claws open upon my hand That I remember- Remember a puma lying out on a branch above my head Years ago. Shall I choke you, Cat, Or kiss you? Really I do not know. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOW THE MIRROR LOOKS THIS MORNING by HICOK. BOB THE LONELY MAN by RANDALL JARRELL IN SEVERAL COLORS by JANE KENYON OPENING HER JEWEL BOX by WILLIAM MATTHEWS |
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