A 14-Year-Old Convalescent Cat In The Winter- Gavin Ewart

I want him to have another living summer,
to lie in the sun and enjoy the douceur de vivre --
because the sun, like golden rum in a rummer,
is what makes an idle cat un tout petite peu ivre--

I want him to lie stretched out contented,
revelling in the heat, his fur all dry and warm,
an Old Age Pensioner, retired, resented
by no one, and happiness in a beelike swarm

to settle on him -- postponed for another season
that last fated hateful journal to the vet
from which there is no return (and age the reason),
which must soon come -- as I cannot forget.

Wild Geese- Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

PS September

Friday 4th September

1. Voyage- Tamar Yoseloff. Michael
2008 Forward Prize Book of Poetry

2. Wild Geese- Mary Oliver. Juliette
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/wild-geese-by-mary-oliver/

3. Inheritance- Evan. Michael
2008 Forward Prize Book of Poetry

4. A 14-Year-Old Convalescent Cat In The Winter- Gavin Ewart. Juliette

5. London- Elaine Fanshaw. Michael
2008 Forward Prize Book of Poetry


Juliette
Michael
Monica
Brian
2008 Forward Prize Book of Poetry