Thirteen things I like about living solitary are:

(One) that I’m not solitary. I have my cat and

my social media. (Two) There are days when 

I can slob around in pyjamas as long as I like.

(Three) I get to spend my money just as I choose –

and if I choose unwisely, at least I don’t have to

feel upset on someone else’s behalf as well. (Four) No 

disagreements, or compromises, about whatever 

to watch on TV. (Five) Eating just what, and when, my 

whim decrees. (Six) Indulging only my own taste in 

pictures and decor. (Seven) Fewer interruptions when 

I’m writing – though there’s always the cat, and the 

internet, of course. (Eight) No problem clinging to 

my own unchallenged opinions – which may or may not 

be a benefit, but I like it anyway. (Nine) I can chuck out 

anything I want to, on the rare occasions I declutter. 

(Ten) I’ve got the whole bed to myself – well, except, 

sometimes, for the cat. (Eleven) I can choose when to 

get up, and – even more important – when (if ever, lol) 

to retire for the night. (Twelve) I’m not constrained 

by someone else’s fear of my appearing openly witchy. 

(Thirteen) I can spend whole days, or even whole 

weeks, reading and reading and reading ...

Written for Thursday Thirteen, May 11, 2023, and shared with Poets and Storytellers United at Friday Writings #77.

To Do List

1. Exercise 10am, 4pm
2. Medications as listed 9am, 12 noon, 10pm
3. Laundry
4. Shopping list for tomorrow
5. Check bills due
6. Start Poppi back on dry food
7. Photo for fb group
8. Write poem for today

1. Warrior training
2. Fight monsters
3. Cleanse and renew
4. Fortify castle / bless temple
5. Arrange wings for flying
6. Connect with guardian angel
7. Commune with the earth
8. Listen to own soul

A little exercise in reframing, lol. Written for Friday Writings #76 at Poets and Storytellers United.

The Other Cats: #1. The forgotten

The Other Cats #1: The Forgotten

I say my latest is number eight. Not true; she’s really the eleventh. I could list my eight in loving detail. Those other three I don’t count, and tend to forget. 

Let’s count them, this once.

#1 The forgotten.

#2 The invader.

#3 The feral.

I mostly forget #1. How could that be? He was my first – or she? – and I’d always longed for a cat. I remember what she looked like: small, black-and-white, scarcely past kitten-hood.

Where did I get him? What was her name? I probably answered an ad. Something in a shop – or house – window? A neighbour whose cat had kittens?

I was renting a house with two other young women: my first independence. Of course I got a cat! They didn’t mind, so long as all care and feeding was mine. 

They worked full-time. I was a student, living near the uni, with time between lectures. I guess I spent some time home with the cat. I recall she was outside a lot during the day. I think I brought him into my bedroom at night.

I was poor. A scholarship took care of student fees but little else. There must have been a meagre living allowance. Also I pawned things; seldom reclaimed them. Many weeks I lived on a head of lettuce; sixpence worth of mincemeat (a lot back then) which I shared with the cat; and oranges which one of the others had plentifully, from her family who grew them. I remember the cat eating eagerly, at her little bowl near the laundry. I must have named him; no idea what.

After a year, our tenancy ended. I went home for long vacation (across Bass Strait, from Melbourne to Tasmania). What did I do with the cat? I vaguely think I advertised, and gave it to a neighbouring family.

How could I, always feline-besotted, forget my first cat?

‘Some people break down very quietly,’ said my psychiatrist, a few years later. 'No-one notices.'

I look back and see I was already starting to break down then: so quietly, I myself didn’t realise yet. 

Could I even connect with a cat? Surely I was kind, responsible? 

I don’t remember.

(To be continued. See #2 and #3.)

For Weekly Scribblings #70 at Poets and Storytellers United, Rommy asks us to write a list poem, or a piece of prose that incorporates the idea of a list. Although this piece does that, and even supplies the list, I apologise that it doesn't complete the details. I expect that will take two more episodes.