Still Life Sans Cat (And/Or Dog)

by Jim Murdoch

The dog may be wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry — French proverb

There was supposed to be

a cat in this poem

and I did explain this to the

cat but cats are,

as we all know, a law unto

themselves, so

if you could just go ahead

and imagine a

placeholder cat I'd be very

grateful, I would.

What do you mean can you

imagine a dog?

It's not a dog poem. Anyone

can see it's not.

I mean, if I'd wanted to write

a ruddy dog poem

I would. I've nothing against

dogs, no, but I am

more of a cat person not that

that matters here.

Look here, whose poem is this

anyway? What?

A collaborative enterprise? No!

I handle the words

and you're in charge of meaning.

I pick the animal,

you get to imagine the breed and

the colour etcetera.

No, it can't be a dog called Cat.

That's plain stupid.