Dear Said

Said, my black cat, is named after Edward Said, author of many books including “Orientalism.” Weetzie Bat is my wife’s cat, named after the Weetzie Bat, a character in a series of books by Francesca Lia Block.

“Dear Said,”

5:30 AM comes too early
and too late in the morning to recover lost sleep
what is it that drives your hunger
always on the prowl searching the floor,
bookshelves, kitchen counter, sometimes
I’ve caught you licking the floor, some lost bit of flavor

Your behavior is both cute and appalling,
stalking the older and wiser Weetzie Bat, chasing
her from tabletop to bed to dresser top, fighting
fur-flying, is not acceptable, and while were on the subject,
neither is swiping at my leg while on the toilet

The doctors say that you must still loose more weight
and like us those last few pounds fall hard,
never in time for swim suit weather, and
feeding you less and less is torture for all those involved,
especially poor Weetzie Bat, who must look like
a tasty morsel to you, or at very least a competitor
for any scrap

The doctors also say that if you can’t calm down,
there are drugs that can help you relax, stop
patrolling, stop hunting, stop hurting Weetzie Bat,
and waking us up in the morning

I don’t want to hear the doctors' words, I love you
and your obsessive smile and the way you
follow me around the house and knock things
from on high, testing gravity and my patience

Always under foot, always there to clean my fingers,
always, Said