Slam!

Today, of course, is Groundhog's Day. According to both Canada's own Shubenacadie Sam, and his better-known neighbour to the south, Punxsutawney Phil, we're in for another 6 weeks of winter. Here on the Wet Coast, that's not such a big deal, as we've just had the warmest January on record, and snowdrops & crocuses have already been blooming for a week or more. Though I do feel for the rest of the continent, where winter's been a little crankier than usual.

In honour of Groundhog's Day - which also happens to be the Feast of Brigid, the patron saint of poetry - and better yet, my Mom's birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!), I'm starting my day with this: the 5th Annual Cyberspace Poetry Slam for Brigid. And since Mom likes cats, and our not-so-wee diva kitty is named for Brigid, I thought I'd share a cat about poems, by one of my favourite poets.

The Cat and the Moon
(William Butler Yeats)

The cat went here and there
and the moon spun round like a top
and the nearest kin of the moon,
the creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon
for, wander and wail as he would,
the pure cold light in the sky
troubled his animal blood.

Minnaloushe runs in the grass,
lifting his delicate fee.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
what better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
tired of that courtly fashion,
a new dance turn.

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass

from moonlit place to place,

the sacred moon overhead

has taken a new phase.

Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils

will pass from change to change,

and that from round to crescent,

from crescent to round they range?

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass

alone, important and wise

and lifts to the changing moon

his changing eyes.