Honestly, why wouldn't you?

A poem for anyone experiencing Feline Overload

Not a cat I know, but strangely familiar all the same. Photo by georgi benev on Unsplash

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Disclaimer: no cats were displaced in the writing of this poem. Please seek professional assistance for your cat-packing needs.

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SO YOU WANT TO MAIL A CAT.                                     2025


And honestly, why wouldn’t you? When all 
you mean to do is wrap a present for
your sister’s birthday, spend an hour instead
shooing the cat off tissue-paper, winding up
the ribbons it decides to chase, unsticking tape
caught in its claws — this after one more night
(how many, in a row?) of scurried yowls 
outside your bedroom door — and honestly,
your sister loves the cat, she says so
every time she visits. Well, 
why wouldn’t you? It can be done. 

First, place a cat-size box
down on the floor, the one you meant to use
to mail the present to your sister. Leave the room.

Next, search along the floorboards
for a cat-toy, in the cupboard for
a treat or two. After all, a person
can pack up a cat and mail it off
and not act like a monster.

Then come back to the box,
now filled with shifting cat.
Find space for toy and treats; if in  
the mood, the cat may sniff them once
or twice before closing its eyes.
This is what you want. Tiptoe away.

Spend a quarter-hour in
another room, taking deep breaths,
looking for packing tape.

Then come back to the box,
now melted-full of sleeping cat.
Pick up the two top flaps
and start to fold them closed, then stop
and watch the soft breath quivering 
the fluid body, hear the tiny snore, 
and think, Why would you, though?

Next, using the top flaps
as handles, gently tug the box
across the floor into the nearest sunbeam.
Some settling of contents may occur,
perhaps a muffled purr-trill. This is normal.

Finally, put the packing tape away, 
come back and find a chair, take more deep breaths,
watch as the sunbeam dances on the sleek fur of a cat                                          
who will not be mailed, who is not going anywhere.

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This poem arose, believe it or not, out of a prompt based on postage stamps. The poem-a-day challenge for National Poetry Writing Month in 2024 had us looking in all directions for inspiration, including at a huge collection of stamp art from around the world. I couldn’t help noticing how many stamps (from how many countries) featured cats, and that flowed together with the idea of mailing things, and … that’s how a poet’s brain works.

My 2024 version of this poem had the narrator offering these helpful instructions more or less out of the blue, no context. When I looked at it again this spring I decided some back-story might be in order, so I picked up on the phrase “Why would you, though?” from late in the poem, and starting thinking about why you might, some days, be tempted to. Having been friend and auntie to some extremely (ahem) helpful cats over the years, it wasn’t actually hard to imagine. The only thing easier to imagine was, well, all the reasons why you would never. >^..^<