February 19, 2026

trying to coax
the cat downstairs
to get her med
so she can go through life
sans digestive strain and pain
and yet
she’s a cat
and doesn’t understand
the cause and effect
[or even the daily proven math
of ‘you don’t get your breakfast
until we force this gross liquid
into your mouth’]
so she whines
and complains
and won’t let us catch her
[it’s a silly game of cat and mouse
when the cat is the mouse
and the humans take on
the feline part
but it’s all for good
we swear
we keep telling her
it’s all
for your own
good…]

[if only cats understood complex concepts and the english language
then maybe this daily morning process
wouldn’t be so much of a
hassle]

November 25, 2025

we are good kips
who do our things
that we set out to do
in the mornings

me with my poetry
kip with their programming
puppies with their naps
and cats with their…whatever cats do in the early hours

November 4, 2025

ghost cat?
in and out of the office
in front of kip
and as kip blinks, she’s gone
and they ask “where’s the cat?”
to which i answer
“in here, as she’s been for the last [at least] ten minutes,
lying on top of my shoes
on top of my suitcase
purring
and half napping
and fully enjoying her time”

ghost cat
definitely
[but which cat are we
feeding?]

October 20, 2025

less
meds
for this cat—
you’d think that would make her
more likely to accept
the singular med
once a day
we have now

but no

instead she has run from me
every chance she’s gotten
this morning

let’s see if in this moment i can
trick her into letting me
catch
her…

success!

July 26, 2025

that was
the greatest part of my morning

the greatest morning

a cat on my lap
enjoying the scritches
from my left hand

and a puppy at my feet
leaning into me
enjoying the scritches from my
right hand

and though i got no writing done
and it only lasted about ten minutes

i was in a blissful heaven
the whole time

April 4, 2025

why am i so calmed
by a cat simply being
on top of me?

even before the cuddles
or the purring
just knowing
that this feline wants to be on my lap
just feeling
her little paws on my legs
my anxiety is lessened
for the moment
for the moment

June 12, 2024

so
here we are
trying to write while the cat
yowls her nausea
upstairs

i just want to tell her
say to her
explain to her
that this will pass
it’s just a flare-up
it will pass

[i also want to tell myself
say to me
explain in such a way that i believe
that
this will pass
it’s just a flare-up
we have the meds we need
it’s not something different
something insidious
something hidden]

[we should schedule that ultrasound]

March 1, 2022

the cat meows
and meows
and meows
and still i haven’t yet fed her

(how dare)

in ten minutes time this will change
the food will be in her cat tree
and then between her teefies
and then inside her belly

and in fifteen minutes

the cat
will

meow
meow
meow
once more

and i’ll have no way
to quiet her
down.

(and i love it all)

January 26, 2022

when dogs get ‘the zoomies’
it’s an indication
that they are a happy dog

but is the same true
for cats
with ‘the zoomies’ ?

our cat
is a very zoomie cat
but she has increased the amount
of zoomies
since our moving to this house
probably five-fold

so i think i’m going to take it
as a win
and assume she is far happier
in the house
than she was at either apartment

(though she can’t see the birds as she once could…
is she now chasing bird ghosts instead of birds themselves?)
(a question for another poem.)