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atticus

 

 

 

 

 

clumsy cat
bumps a hand


painted bowl off
the dresser top


transforms art
into the artless


task of sweeping
up ceramic shards


scattered starlike
over oaken slats


cats and the soft
foot of time


leave so little
left unbroken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Comments

1 - 42 of 42

  • Utok Bulinaw
    October 18, 2007
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    Cute


  • truembrace
    September 21, 2007

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    I think perhaps that the cats would prefer they are the only possession. so many with mayhem in their character -- just wouldn't be the same without them tho.

    the key two lines in this poem are:
    "cats and the soft foot of time
    leave so little left unbroken".

    Well-- two stanzas I should say... regardless - the core of the poem was there for me.

    very cool indeed.

    Kim


  • CyanideAmbrosia
    September 11, 2007

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    I like this. It shows, in my opinion, how the innocent can cause harm without realizing it, and also how ignorance can be bliss. Maybe I'm being redundant in those statements, but the point gets across. It makes me think of a child coloring on the walls. Good write.

  • luvdrkchocolate
    September 9, 2007

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    You have a way of saying a lot of different things in just a few lines. That's pretty cool. I like cats and I know how they could be, so I laughed when I read this because I could just see it happening. The end was really good too because I liked how it became this greater analogy of being about life and time and how everything seems to return to nothing at the end. Lestways, that's what I took it to mean.

  • Apparition
    September 6, 2007

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    Lovely

    The most sentamental part of Thanksgiving was an antique ceramic Turkey shaped soup tourine inherited from my children's great-grandmother. Throughout the rest of the year it was on display on the piano ( safe or so I thought)...until the cat knocked it off and shattered it. So, I can totally identify with this piece. And time...it does leave so little left unbroken. This invokes such pathos in the reader, and no doubt brings to mind memories of things lost..either to a cat's indelicate walk ..or to simply the passing of time or unnoticed neglect.


  • Saffron gold member
    September 5, 2007
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    *


  • Grieving-Willow
    September 4, 2007

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    Amazing

    Amazing Write, it reminds me of good memories and gives the reader such a peace of mind that memories like that never go away. I like how you wrote this, it is well written and well expressed. I am honored to have read such a fine piece!

  • ArtFullyMe gold member
    August 31, 2007

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    time.....

    time has been on my mind a great deal lately... even more so lately .. since the death of my 12 year old dog ( last week )..

    this captures .. so much.. in the words and the pauses between them..
    the line breaks, the short couplets.. not a word wasted ..
    combined they create that sense of ..damage... but not the catastrophic kind, no, it's the soft footed silent kind that is ever around us ...and ever with us... just waiting to remind us ..how quickly things change, and that despite our efforts, they will..... and that ..all we can really do.... is adapt.

    sigh..


  • Peteskid gold member
    August 30, 2007
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    a friend lodged in memory for many tiny reasons...PK


  • liltandrhyme silver member
    August 28, 2007

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    This is a great write, Al.

    "..ceramic shards scattered starlike over oaken slats" just superb flow, phraseology and metaphor. A very tender and thought-provoking ending.

    If there is a tribute here, it is one worthy of applause.

    PJ


  • Cat gold member
    August 28, 2007

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    cats and the soft foot of time-
    leave so little left unbroken

    i love those lines- this is wonderful poetry- each word is so precisely placed so as not to tamper unsoundly with the one before or after-

    has anyone ever told you that you are a wonderful poet?
    they were right

    m


  • naked roots
    August 27, 2007

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    This is beautifully done. I love the clean cut way you have the lines separated. It made me (as a reader) have to connect more, slow down to ponder it in pieces and together as a whole.
    Now emotionally, I can connect and enjoyed this because I used to have a small black cat who lived in my apartment with me named Zoe. ahhh...the messes that creature could make (giggling).

    Excellent as always


  • ariosto gold member
    August 27, 2007

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    total agreement

    since I have many cats and have lived much time an awful
    lot's been broken

    this is clean as a whistle
    like Raphael a perfect balance struck


  • mantis180
    August 26, 2007

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    An excellent write. Ive never been much of a cat person... tending to veer more towards dogs, but I do love this poem. "Leave so little- Left unbroken" Gorgeous, you always take my breath away AJ.


  • ellipsist
    August 26, 2007
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    very simply and plainly stated

    and yet done poetically so...


  • Lute
    August 24, 2007

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    this bestest one. relative tho you know, good betterst, best, bestest. Depends. what goes on deep down inside, where the valves get turned. I wonder, seems like peoples would say wow!, why that? an affectation, to cover the true katharsis you see. True true. Not wordy, not wasty--to often we like to listen to the wind blowing through the trees, lickeddy split, singing to Me, "I ain't nothin but a hounddog," and so on. Nopey. cut the heart out of the "thing". that the best, the poem is found, not embellished, then it becomes something else, a gaudy flower with trinkets attached. Nopey. Jangly that sort of thing, The true ring, that is the voice of the petals in the breeze is lost and that is the sad thing, cause that would have been the truth had we not been so proud.


  • Rowan gold member
    August 24, 2007

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    I have two cats, lol. I used to buy myself flowers all the time, but I realized after all the broken vases I would clean up after their nightly flower attacks..it was useless.
    the line breaks were so effective in this piece, and of course the last line was perfect.
    And there's nothing wrong with a sensitive guy.
    especially if he can use it to his advantage like this.


  • Night Hope gold member
    August 23, 2007

    Edit | Reply
    "cats and the soft
    foot of time

    leave so little
    left unbroken"

    Perhaps. But they also leave little unhealed as time progresses. As the saying goes, it's nearly impossible to be stressed out with a sleeping cat in your lap. When I saw your title, I immediately thought of Atticus Finch, of course. My late sweetheart was constantly told he looked like a young Gregory Peck. I thought he was much more handsome than that. Of course, being a lil' biased. Great name for a cat. Grand penning, Al. Wanda


  • Jersene silver member
    August 23, 2007
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    I love the moment you've captured. Beautiful poetry!


  • monimac
    August 23, 2007

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    I love atticus! 'fraid I'm not much of a cat person though

    I loved the line breaks throughout this, and especially the last stanza with "leave" and "left".

    Lovely, lovely, lovely Al. I love when guys show their sensitive side.


    • AJ Morelli gold member
      August 23, 2007
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      Thanks Stacy, I only have two sides, a sensitive side and an overly sensitive side...

      • monimac
        August 24, 2007
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        Huh? what the heck planet are you from? I want to go there lol.
  • Arzab
    August 23, 2007

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    Very true of cats. I've got two around the house and they always seem to be knocking something over. Especially the younger one. He's a rebel and doesn't like to listen to me.

    When I first saw the title of this piece I thought it would be in reference to "To Kill A Mockingbird", until I started reading it. I think Atticus is a very cool name for a cat.

    Great write.


  • ardentMarch gold member
    August 23, 2007

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    I love this small, but profound piece...sigh..so true...I read this earlier and didn't get the title ..LOL...ah, yes, your cat.


  • NurseChilly gold member
    August 23, 2007

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    ahhhh yes... the pieces

    I love your cat's name.. even though i am highly allergic, i love it when people give their pets names that have a more literal and literacy meaning

    A good friend of mine has a tabby called Kalaf... which is one of the characters out of Turandot ... he used to play trombone on the Boston Phil.... lololol strange infor for you i know.... but it's the name you see


    Atticus was a steadfast and stoic man, is your cat like that...



    G.x


    • AJ Morelli gold member
      August 23, 2007
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      the name was suggested by a very good friend of mine, who's always had a much better way with words (and names) then i do... atticus' main attribute seems to be being incredibly adorable..

      • NurseChilly gold member
        August 23, 2007
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        well i think gregory peck was pretty adorable in that film. so yeah.. must fit him so well


        • AJ Morelli gold member
          August 23, 2007
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          although a man's man, confident in my sexuality, i must admit he did look quite dashing in those glasses and that is truly one of my favorite films..

          • NurseChilly gold member
            August 23, 2007
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            oohh yeah

            he was superbly gorgeous..

            and i want give your secret up, well... not too many....

            hmmmmmmmm

  • ca ne fait rien
    August 23, 2007
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    artful.


  • Suzanne Dia gold member
    August 23, 2007

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    cat like crazy, haha


    I know it at least made you laugh. I love it when I see clumsy moments from cats, because the phrase comes to me ...cat-like reflexes... and I realize that it is entirely possible for even ME ..to have cat like reflexes

    I like the way I had to read this carefully in order to string the lines together properly. Made for an even funner read.


  • Grunts Girl
    August 23, 2007

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    sometimes i let a little lizzard in or a moth in the house so he has something 'different' to play with.
    one of my cats, his name is Crash Test Dummy... Crash for short. His mother was a cat on my farm, she would follow me everywhere, this one time (at band camp) she followed me to the mailbox, attempted to cross the street and her head was smooshed by a car. I grabbed her and brought her back up to my office (I used to be a large animal veterinarian for horses.. yeah i know... i get that look lol) anyway, i cut her open and he was the largets kitten out of four. I had to breathe in his nose and incubate him, but he had oxygen deprevation and is mildly retarded. Things normal cats can do, he cannot... he tries to jump on or off the couch and its a comedy routine every time. He never lands on his feet. He is 15 years old now and I have a little ramp going to his favorite chair and if he wants up on anything else, he looks at it and cries lol... I am so amazed he has lived this long.

    anyway... darn it... you and others always take me places lol

    it amazes me that a cat can hop onto a dresser top full of things breakable, attempt to swat at their target, get it or not...and move on leaving things undisturbed...

    now if it was a dog... LMAO... one tail swag and bam...you own nothing unbroken!

    after this is all this... there is something behind all of this...
    something powerfully beautiful for someone you care for... cats are too loyal to leave for too long... they know where home is and it takes mean people to make a stray out of one of them.



    • Suzanne Dia gold member
      August 23, 2007
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      I want to hug your kitty (don't be dirty minded )

      • Grunts Girl
        August 23, 2007
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        i would have loved to have brought crash up that time i visited syl but i had drinking priorities at the time LOL... he would have loved snort, he is really good with other animals and he thinks the bunny (cletus) is his best friend, he doesnt realize he could eat the bunny and instead spends the day grooming him and cuddling with him.

        • AJ Morelli gold member
          August 23, 2007
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          I've heard about a bunny and a cat who didn't get along so well, actually the rabbit was a bit too fond of the cat but the cat, not so much...lol

          • Grunts Girl
            August 23, 2007
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            HAHAHA.... umm i hate to say this but that relationship was already attempted...
            poor crash just looked at cletus like.. um... whatcha doin down there? I had to use the squirt gun method to get cletus to stop that one... of course crash loves the squirt gun. weirdo. lol

            now cletus just occassionally humps my foot

  • Nicolette gold member
    August 23, 2007

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    This is beautiful, Al... a little lightness to "unbreak" the "leave so little left unbroken"...soft as the cat this was written for. I hope she reads this and comes back... This one touched me... 's

    ~ Nicolette


  • Redstormy gold member
    August 23, 2007

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    Good one

    That is the problem with cats they climb all
    over everything. But they are cute doing it. *smile
    Sorry for the loss, you expressed it well my friend.

    Red
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