The poet Charles Bukowsi was a pussy man par excellence and his philofelineosophy has been distilled by editor Abel Debritto in a compendium cataloguing the prose and poetry recurrent in the canon, categorically called CHARLES BUKOWSKI ON CATS.
Arranged chronologically, these writings form a colossal catenate of Bukowski’s awe of the claw, beginning with an extract from his 1944 story, Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip and culminating in My Cats, collected in the posthumously published, Come On In.
Enamoured of toms and tabbies of every stripe, Bukowski calls these creatures his teachers –
“but I watch and learn from them.
I like the little they know,
which is so
much.
They walk with a surprising dignity
they sleep with a direct simplicity that
humans just can’t
understand.
When I am feeling
low
all I have to do is
watch my cats
and my courage returns.”
Bukowski believes in the transmogrification of the mog, the magic of the mouser, the absolute fabulousness of the feline and writes effusively and affectionately. Even the repetition, which is really evolution, belies any sign of catachresis.
One particular cat keeps reappearing, reprising its importance, reiterating its existence.
Bukowski identifies it as a Manx, but he is disavowed its pedigree when a catastrophicevent causes a rapid veterinary response revealing a catalogue of past injury including a gunshot wound and the amputation of its tail.
CHARLES BUKOWSKI ON CATS is a catechism for the ailurophile by the bibulous Boukowski and mostly joyous- a striking exception is the ailurophobic extract from his novel, Ham & Rye, a grim story of gang mentality and mob rule.
Leonard Cohen is reputed to have said Bukowski brought everybody down to earth, even the angels. In this collection, the day to day leaps from the page and walks through the porticoes of my admiration.
At the end of his life, Bukowski had nine cats – “the strays arrive and we can’t turn them away” – kind of poetic that he had nine lives to care for.
“When I’m being torn by the forces, I just look at one or more of my cats..and I relax. Writing is also my cat. Writing let’s me face it. It chills me out.”
CHARLES BUKOWSKI ON CATS is published by Canongate.