Moe: Remembrance

by Carol Lem

In this sixth collection of poems, Carol Lem meditates on the death of her feline companion, Moe, and illustrates once again the healing process of poetry. "Isn't that what it's about -," she writes, "paying homage to those we love / and have to let go." So these reflections move beyond the average book of cat poems to explore the joyful, poignant, revealing moments of love and loss.

Two Poems from Moe

Attention

The Noble fir stands upright against the wind,
not ready to let the season go,
though bubble lights, chimes, and angels
return to the closet.
It sits in a redwood container
filled with potting soil, roots severed,
three nails pierced at the bottom
where the crossed stand once was.
The wind listens
and the cat, pawing the fallen needles,
his life, too, a matter of the attention I give.

Be still, I tell myself.
There is a breathing in the universe
they can hear, as if the gentle thread
that will pull them through
is tinkling their delicate limbs
while I on this side, with Oxygen Plus
and baytril, keep alive the small gestures:
water, food, touch.

I watch them lean toward the light
as I lean toward mine, listening.

Copyright © 2004 Carol Lem

My Teacher

When Moe was waiting for his meal
he would scratch on the wicker chair
where I sat to write, and when I paused
for the next line, he'd yawn and meow
as if to say enough now, give it a rest.
If I ignored him he'd jump on the table,
paw the words, then rub his jaw
on the pen, claiming more territory.

The first time he smudged a stanza
and I read the poem back without it,
I found my teacher. For years he'd plop
across the page and stop the moving hand.
These mornings when nothing came
he'd lie in my lap and purr a poetry
I hadn't heard before. Nothing is lost
by leaving things unsaid.

He's dead now about two months, and
I figure I owe him a book all his own.
Isn't that what it's about -
paying homage to those we love
and have to let go.

Copyright © 2004 Carol Lem

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