Zappa Out of the Box

As you may have read, my beloved cat Zappa died last Sunday (3.30.14) and Peter Munro said the next night we’d hoist one in his memory at our 5th Monday EasySpeak gathering, which we did. I did a Control F search in my latest American Sentences manuscript and found 28 poems that mention a cat. Sure, some of them are not about Zappa, but about Tupelo, Meredith’s cat. One is a found poem about a cat (& their legendary healing qualities) and one is really about my oldest daughter Rebecca who, though not a cat, felt that Zappa was her furry little brother. So, in honor of the memory of Zappa (the cat, not the guitarist/composer) here are some American Cat Sentences written over my 14 years of daily practice:

1.02.01 – Alternating oil massage, we decide against greasing up the cat.

6.03.04 – Eyeing the brand new sheet w/ nothing but bad intent the black white cat.

7.08.04 – Cat kisses on my July morning eyelid just after he urped.

9.05.04 – Sunday 6A cat wake-up call: final cries of dying songbird.

5.09.05 – Duck on the apartment roof, cat fur wet after his outside jaunt – May rain.

6.07.05 – Not clock ticking clock ticking cat licking fur during meditation.

7.12.06 – Coolest thing on this July Wednesday night -the cat’s pads on my bare feet.

10.2.06 – Perfectly natty – except for lint on the shirt, cat hair on the pockets.

2.19.07 – I’m fixated on my spiritual quest when not torturing the cat.

7.04.07 – Cat corpse on sidewalk, rabbit corpse on the bike trail – Happy Independence Day!

8.15.07 – 10th, south of Pine, he says: If it weren’t for cats, I’d be killing a lot.

9.08.07 – Good thing I cleaned the kitchen floor shiny target on which the cat could urp.

9.27.07 – Dan Blunck comes over, meets Zappa, says: Cats always got one eye on ya.

10.16.07 – It’s so much fun to tickle the cat – but not so much when he urps.

1.05.07 – Distracted, I can’t get to the cat urp before it becomes a hot lunch.

1.16.08 – ‘Laundry first, then the car’ I tell her – radio plays Cats in the Cradle.

8.27.08 – Cat medicine – 2cc antibiotic, cc tuna juice.

10.23.08 – Looking for one cat hair to pull that’ll get ‘em all off my wool vest.

12.9.08 – She said it’s good her cat lost weight – now he can lick his rectum.

2.23.09 – UNFAIR say the cat’s eyes – feather toy on the other side of the spokes.

3.4.09 – Something inside me wants to beat this cat until he learns to love me.

4.26.10 – To a cat, jumping over your head during yoga – good idea.

5.27.10 – The Rune of Joy did not foresee Tupelo’s cat urp on the prayer rug.

6.25.11 – Cat drug method: Roll in it, lick it off yr body, cough up hairballs.

9.5.11 – At the home of Buster the three-legged cat, they offer gluten-free beer.

4.30.12 – Pavlov’s cat – no dinner bell, clang of raw egg on cast iron skillet.

7.22.12 – Why did the cat lick its own ass? To get the urp taste out of his mouth.

2.17.13 – While it’s possible, I’m going to pass on the cat fur merkin.