A Cherita

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury 
the cat came in time for Christmas

just for the quiet cosiness
of cushion, coverlet and chair

old bones love warmth
and company - something we shared
that, and a diet of dairy and fish
~~
these evenings toll the burial bell
shuttering light with a last glimmer of green
the way her eyes closed

loneliness comes padding softly
on a slow, awkward gait

I hear it through the dull, dead silences

For my MTB prompt “Cherishing the Cherita” we are writing in ai li’s prescribed freestyle of condensed storytelling with 1,2,3, lined verses, and partnered with a reversal (cherita terbalik). In memoriam of Moog 7/05 – 9/11/23

47 thoughts on “A Cherita”

  2. This is right up my street, Laura, a cat that came in time for Christmas! I love these lines especially:
    ‘old bones love warmth
    and company – something we shared
    that, and a diet of fish and dairy’
    that’s me and my cats!
    These lines brought me to tears:
    ‘loneliness comes padding softly
    on a slow, awkward gait’.

  3. This one hits home. Our oldest cat went to the vet for the second time in her life last Saturday. Just a slight infection, but it was a shock. Even with other animals around, each one that pads away into the night leaves a hollow place.

  4. I kept re-reading “loneliness comes comes padding softly on a slow, awkward gate.” There’s something about it that I like so much.

  5. This beautiful in its tenderness Laura, that’s how I remember my cherished cat who at the end found it so difficult to climb onto my knee, but she passed peacefully in her basket ❤️

  6. I love the story told in vivid and short images. Specially, old bones, burial bell, loneliness, slow and awkward gait, and dull, dead silences. Love learning and writing to this form Laura.

  8. “old bones love warmth and company” ain’t that the truth! Enjoyed this, Laura, and thank you for introducing me to this form, never knew it existed.

      1. It’s not easy right away. I felt like a over-wrote my first couple drafts. Then I went back, kept editing down, and it was more effective. I like this form for the same reason that I like the quadrille, it’s forces me to think “brevity” — not my natural inclination.

  9. burial bell makes me want to scream NOOOOOOO! my cat of 17 years passed away 4 years ago and i still look for her furry face running towards me whenever i open a can of tuna or put whipped cream on pie! ❤ lovely poem!

  10. I think you encapsulate the special kind of relationship we can have with a cat, Laura, not the active attention, food, and walk seeking of a dog but the shared “old bones love warmth and company”…

  15. Laura, you manifest the arrival of, the bonding with, and the parting between you and, your furry companion, exquisitely. (god I hope I put those commas in there correctly!)

    1. thank you for your feeling observation on the bonding and parting Lisa
      p.s. the comma commander thinks it should be …
      ” the bonding with and the parting, between you and your furry companion, exquisitely.
      [there is always debate about commas before ‘and’]

  16. Losing a furry friend is heartbreaking, I feel that in your cherita, expressed so beautifully.

  17. Masterful, Laura.
    I get why you chose this format for your prompt to us. A beautiful story about relationships with cats, crafted into this format as if it was not even there, just with the perfect flow.

  19. Oh I love this… sad story, comfort and company to loss and loneliness – I think I have to try this again some time….💞Suzanne

  20. They slip away so quietly, and the contrast with the “slow, awkward gait of loneliness” is striking and all the more sad.

  21. I feel this poem, the goodbye that is obviously coming, comes and then lingers in a loving empty space that cannot be filled. Very moving.

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