What charmed me in this small poetic fragment was the notion of something vegetal (green & climbing) transmuting itself into the feline presence, a menacing presence intent on reaching out more
Sir, Say no More
By Trumbull Stickney (1874 – 1904)
Sir, say no more.
Within me ‘t is as if
The green and climbing eyesight of a cat
Crawled near my mind’s poor birds.
https://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/sir-say-no-more
The Poems of Trumbull Stickney, ed. George Cabot Lodge, William Vaughn Moody, and John Ellerton Lodge (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1905): 312 (no. V of XVII — “Dramatic Fragments” — among all the “Fragments”).
I am reminded of the title of a poem by Dylan Thomas (1914-1953):
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Not that I am implying influence, just offering a reminder that in some circles the power of growth is figured by the in indomitable power of plant life.
It is Stickney’s cat with its eyes and claws that puts me in mind of An Otter by Ted Hughes (1930 – 1998)
Underwater eyes, an eel’s
Oil of water body, neither fish nor beast is the otter:
Four-legged yet water-gifted, to outfish fish;
With webbed feet and long ruddering tail
And a round head like an old tomcat.
And by these fine poets, we as readers are water-gifted, treated to the flow of all creation.
And so for day 2463
10.09.2013