The cat in my bathroom
and my bedroom, and my office and my kitchen and occasionally - if I don't close the door quickly enough - in my refrigerator. And then he is on my lap, both skinny arms clinging to my wrist while he bites the webbing by my thumb as though it is his favorite snack.I'm still not sure I really want a cat again. Especially an illegal cat. I like rules. I like to buck them, live by them, circumvent them but in the deepest recesses of my heart I respect them even if I do not agree with them. I have lived in this flesh for enough years to realise that I will not always understand the rules because I cannot see the bigger picture, and sometimes rules are just some power hungry jerk trying for control because he or she has no center, no bedrock faith in their own worth and so they need to dominate the world.
Like everyone, I make adjustments every day, seeking balance, comfort in my life. I say rude words and flip the bird but experience has shown my grandmother was right. Honey works much better than vinegar, although I have little interest in catching flies, and when it is honey backed by truth life becomes a paradise of friendly smiles.
I grew up in a culture where good mornings and good evenings are acknowledged and returned, a habit I almost unlearned in NY in self preservation. On coming home it took a mere day to open up the gentle nods and murmurs of greeting that say yes, I see you, you are here in this world and I acknowledge your right to be here. You are a person and you matter.
I see the bitter complaints in the forum about unanswered mail and wonder how many of those complaining have ignored a flower in their mailbox, left a note without an answer. I post my poems and often tag them with a good evening or good morning to say I know you are there and that I care and I some times feel so alone when not liking the poem is enough to make it too much trouble to say 'I see you' in return.
So the cat taking asylum in my home bites the hand that feeds him and the world at large ignores the greatest social lubricant of all time, good manners.
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