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The Cat and the Sea

It is a matter of a black cat
On a bare cliff top in March
Whose eyes anticipate
The gorse petals;

The formal equation of
A domestic purr
With the cold interiors
Of the sea's mirror.

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Comments

  • funpum
    May 24, 2006
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    I like it.

    I think the the cat's eyes are being compared to gorse petals, which are yellow and slitty. So the cat's eyes 'anticipate' the coming of the gorse, which grows on cliff tops. I think the next verse is juxtaposing and pointing out the dual contrary nature of the cat - on the one hand, warm and purry and domesticated, on the other hand difficult to see into and wild - like the mirrored surface of the sea. So I guess it's a poem about the nature of the cat. Of course I may be completely wrong!!!

  • Poembuddy
    May 22, 2006
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    hmmm

    this poem is really hard to understand, can anyone help me?


    • Charley Noble Moderators member
      May 23, 2006
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      Could it be a seasonal thing, the cat impatient for spring? This is a puzzle.

      Charley Noble