Kitty Trouble

 

A dedicated sun worshipper in the Costa del Sol,

our kit stretched out on the kitchen table,

normally his viewing platform -

his tail flicked into a frenzy

his throat issuing feral noises

while the flock of actual feral pigeons outside

bicker and joust, parry and lunge

pivot and strike, block and retreat,

flamboyant in their scattering of bird seed,

oblivious to his prying cries.

If you want a carefree breakfast

approach him from behind,

whispering sweet nothings in his ear

extracting him swiftly from his suntrap

before he reads your intentions.

Cover wrists with sleeve cuffs

and be prepared for the box in the ear,

yours this time,

that will probably ensue...

Copyright Cathy Leonard 2025

On Reading Billy Collins

 

Reading instils a sigh and then 

dropped shoulders, your back settling

into the back of the chair

your breath falling

into a poem about poetry-

an empty bridge over a cool stream on a clear day,

not a hint of drama or backstory to ripple the peace.

You fall into that peace 

and then beneath it

to the time before the bridge

to the time before the stream

contemplating nothing in particular

and everything at the same time.

The dog wants you to go into the other room

There's a tray of flapjacks to be baked

and that five minute upper arm workout to perform

But you're so far below the surface of the everyday

that it may be a while before you can emerge

even if you wanted to

look upwards and outwards towards a morning sun 

throwing shadows on gnarled branches 

and burgeoning leaves of lilac breaking through buds, 

and besides,

you still can't hold your arms out in flight mode

for five whole minutes.

Copyright 2025 Cathy Leonard

Billy Collins background

Does she mind him being at home all day?

 

Does she mind him being home all day?

 

 

He hasn’t deleted all of her from the den…yet.

Her stained glass mosaic of a woman holding the moon still leans against the window, her purple skirt caught in the throes of flamenco.

 

But her Michelin France Eyewitness Top Ten Collection, Berlitz Budapest and Pocket Malta have been removed from the corner book shelf and Dervla Murphy’s On a Shoestring in Coory and Muddling through Madagascar are precariously wedged between his Manual of Chess Victory and The Secret of Tactical Chess. Hopefully Dervla’s survival instincts will prevail.

 

The roll top of the desk beneath the book shelf no longer flutters and clicks, expanding and contracting like an accordion. He prefers it left open.

 

On the filing cabinet a stapler, a paper puncher and a calculator have supplanted her tin box collection, Farrah’s Original Harrogate,Valroble Extra Virgin, that used to waft out the aroma of nougat and olives and travel.

 

Her postcards of El Cordobes, bicycles arched over the Herengracht, laundry strung from balconies on a Venetian canal, posted to herself from European mini-breaks, no longer bolster the second hand filing cabinet’s gable wall- stripped back now to scratched metal and adhesive strips.

 

And the sky behind the mosaic woman-moon is cracked. The type of slit that could slice the top off unsuspecting flesh, and it’s a question of how long… before he decides that a brazen woman is the last thing he needs in his retirement.

 

Does she mind him being home all day?

Copyright 2017 Cathy Leonard

St Brigid's Day- February 1st

 

St Brigid's Day in Ireland is considered to be the first day of Spring....well maybe....

Since we were given a Bank holiday to celebrate, the country has risen to the occasion and festivals are sprouting up everywhere. Traditionally the only way I ever celebrated was to gather reeds and make Brigid's Crosses, see poem below. 

The Cross is meant to protect against fire in the home and every year we burnt last year's cross and made a new one. We kept it simple. 

But I learn now that, in Kerry, villages are awash with biddies wearing white outfits and sporting elaborate straw hats. They rove in droves from house to house singing and dancing into the wee small hours over a period of four nights. I had no idea that we were missing out....

St Brigid's Day in Ireland

At Imbolg

 

Stooped to the rhythm of sickle

we gathered rushes from the bog

or ,with our hands, pulled stems

that raised wheals and reddened palms.

We lay them in piles and folded

and turned and turned and folded

until we made a centre that would hold.

 

Not knowing then that she was daughter of Dagda

Celtic goddess, crone turned maiden each Spring.

That we were cutting deeper than bog

i mbolg, at imbolg.

Copyright  Cathy Leonard 2016

Signs of Spring

January Ease

Now that the Christmas rush is over

I have time to construct a rib where before 

a stocking or garter would suffice

and at this January pace watch 

blue tits flitting off twitching stems of Martin's Spurge

note shoots even now breaking through compost

admire flames of  dogwood in the flower bed 

where Winter Daphne presides 

and even raise a brow at our one eyed kitty

who has already this week caught two mice

and an unfortunate house sparrow.

I think this sock will be some time in the making.

Copyright Cathy Leonard 2025

Winter Night Walk

 

Iluminated reindeer are grazing in suburbia

while Santa is doing headstands or climbing gable walls

your common or garden hedges are strung with flickering lights

that tango and foxtrot to a northerly breeze

and even chimney pots and eaves emit sparkles

that signal wonder into  outer space-

fairy dust thickens the air-

and overhead, if we could only see them,

migratory birds headed for warmer climes.

are using the stars to navigate night skies.

Copyright 2024 Cathy Leonard

Sourcing wool ethically?

 

A word about mulesing.

Having a Vegan orientated daughter I have been challenged on my use of wool. According to my research shearing sheep does not harm the sheep and is usually done in Spring relieving the animal of a heavy winter coat. However, how the shearing is done is of importance and the practice of mulesing is something to know about. According to Wikipedia:

Mulesing is the removal of strips of wool-bearing skin from around the breech (buttocks) of a sheep to prevent the parasitic infection flystrike (myiasis). 

It is done with out anaesthetic and is now illegal in the UK

Australia is a major offender in this practice.

On my last visit to Winnies wool shop https://winniethewoolwagon.com/  I asked for wool which was sourced ethically and was told that Drops Wool is sourced from South America where mulesing is not practised.

I did find a wool that was sourced from plastic! and another made up of recycled wool.

It is all something to think about....

For more on the subject follow the link..https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/17/nobody-likes-mulesing-the-market-shift-changing-australias-wool-industry

I used Drops Karisma to make some wrist warmers.

And have started a pair of wrist warmers with Stylecraft recycled wool.

My daughter will love this wool by Scheepjies made from recycled plastics

And finally a poem to share. I read this recently at our neighbourhood gathering and by coincidence a friend sent me an audio version of it by email. It's the time of year for The oxen by Thomas Hardy. You can listen  if you click on link The Oxen by Thomas Hardy

The Oxen

BY THOMAS HARDY

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.

“Now they are all on their knees,”

An elder said as we sat in a flock

By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where

They dwelt in their strawy pen,

Nor did it occur to one of us there

To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave

In these years! Yet, I feel,

If someone said on Christmas Eve,

“Come; see the oxen kneel,

“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb

Our childhood used to know,”

I should go with him in the gloom,

Hoping it might be so.