Kendall Merriam: ‘The Pleasure of Cats’ and ‘Five haiku for Maroulla’
The picture on the science machine
shows a lovely gray tiger
how is it cats adopt us
how do they know the door
to our hearts
I am sitting on my West porch
immediately I sat down
Big Boy and Girlcat
came up and rubbed against my back
just to reassure me
I was still in their good graces
looks very comfortable
in spite of all feline’s complexity
we hear Siberians
are almost shot out
India, too
to provide phony medicine
mostly for the Chinese
Kendall Merriam was born and raised in Rockland. He has a history degree from Gordon College and pursued graduate studies in military and maritime history at the University of Maine at Orono and Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Conn. He received grants to study historical research at Colonial Williamsburg and the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Merriam has been widely published, including in Katyn W Literaturze (Katyn in Literature), a Polish anthology of literary works about the WWII Katyn Forest Massacre by 120 international authors, including Czeslaw Milosz. Most of Merriam’s work has a definite muse – family, friends, and strangers – with life’s larger themes of work, love, loss and death.
old men with money
trying to mate with their stables
of dancing girls
Do you suppose
when all the big cats are gone
they will come for our little ones
sanctioned by some new, false
secret writ
how cruel many humans are
how we must stand up to them
these symbols of Egyptian love and joy
give us a purpose for living
like no other being
FIVE HAIKU FOR MAROULLA
Raven haired
with eyes
that see past the future
Have you sailed to
all the isles of Greece
following Homer’s instructions
Do you eat salads
laden with the fruit of Feta
something I am forbidden
Do you get tired
of curing eyes
as if they were fine olives of the soul
I wonder if you are happy
doing so much for others
when you would like to fall asleep at 2 p.m.
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