tcathvwp

I found a cat who found some food
Who licked its paws
Who hissed as if to scare
Who scratched as if to hurt
Who shot me amber eyes of reproach
Simply for offering milk and dry food.

I found a cat and grabbed it with
Gloved hands, locked it in a little room,
“You’ll be mine and no,
those scratches won’t deter me.
I own you now little cat.”
Her response: muted guttural rage.

The cat found a dark corner
Lowered her shoulders and looked
As if she would never love
Another. “You won’t see me eating
your dry food or sipping your milk.
I will do as I please. Now leave.”

I slunk away, a little embarrassed by my need to vanquish
the spirit of a little tiger cat. But the cat,
Only the cat, turned out finished,
And proud and stood up, walked to the bowl
Sipped some milk, licked her paws and me?
I pretended not to see.

I am an Associate Professor of Secondary Education at SUNY New Paltz. Along with a great team, I direct the Hudson Valley Writing Project, one of 195 sites of the National Writing Project. Our goals involve buidling a community of excellent Hudson Valley educators who care about and work to improve literacy in our region. This work is fulfilling and never done. It’s an ongoing puzzle.

How do I spend my time? The truth is that I spend a lot of time either with my family, biking, rollerblading, walking dogs, or at work. I love games too: cribbage, backgammon, spades, hearts, and parchesi. Most of all I love Scrabble. Although I’m good at it, I’m not so good that a true player wouldn’t whoop me. I need to learn more of those weird little words like qi, aa, ae, ai, ee, etc. Another passion of mine is the St. Louis Cardinals. I think about them daily and wonder at night how the team stacks up against all others. It’s hard to deal with mounting losses and mediocrity. Right now, the team is in a funny spot: good enough to win the Central Division of the National League and bad enough to lose to any good team that has a strong left-handed pitcher and hitters. Our pitching, with the exception of Chris Carpenter leaves a lot to be desired.