The Hardages were cat people. They spent many an hour stroking, feeding, grooming, and talking to cats, not to mention cleaning up their messes, looking for lost ones, and taking injured ones to the vet. Jeanette Hardage loved T.S. Elliot’s The Naming of Cats, and in the previously unpublished poem below, she shares her own love letter to the furry creatures.
Purrfection
In my mind:
Nonchalant, white fur coat,
blue-eyed lap lover—
wrap your magic yarn
around my mind.
Oriental rooftop wonder,
bacon-begging moon chaser—
purr your happy noise
into my heart.
Damp-nosed picket fence walker,
string-chasing fog wanderer—
scratch beneath the surface
of my soul.
Out of my mouth:
What a mess you make—
fur everywhere,
scratching furniture,
always underfoot—What would I do without you?
Great title!