Over Which Cat S Shoulders Is Raised the Lintel

To be left alone to be a cat a porcelain memento on the mantelshelf unnoticed un-thought-of even un-heeded till a hand accidentally stretches to caress the China paw of a line all tucked in out of a Federer need to be willingly unobtrusive knowing the place of the homely cat that’s fed as a pet for the well-being of the spectator in polite chaste drawing-room court To take him à rebrousse-poil and the pretty picture is shattered canine claws unfurl drawn in offence the conquering hargne of a Djokovic the pounce leap and tumble on the millimetre of the angular line of brazen self-righteous discomfort and desire becomes a clay cat baking in the womb of the mantelpiece under a creaking crumbling lintel Revised from a 1986 poem : « Cat on the Mantelshelf » © T.Wignesan 1986/2012