Puedo Escribir

A week from today I will be headed for Asheville (?), North Carolina. I will be spending a week benefitting from workless days in a lovely cabin rented by Sarah's parents with proximity to what I've heard is an absolutely charming town.

I'm hoping to doing a lot of revising [of my poetry], a lot of reading of poetry, and of course hanging out with the Sarah-one, having some inspiring conversations--the kind you can only have when you are not smack dab in the middle of your "real" life. Incidentally, I have decided that I reject the reality that is masquerading as my life!

On my way back from 7-11 this morning I saw a cat. A young cat--an adolescent, lying, the way cats do when they are contemplating the plight of cats, when they are being cattish. Its eyes were open. And I thought 'that's odd. I've never seen a cat lying like that on a sidewalk in the city.' There was no visible wound, you see, so it took me a moment.

I called 311 (the non-emergency number) and asked that someone be sent to get it. And then I told the cat not to worry. That someone would come to get him, that he wouldn't have to lie there much longer.

I did not grow up with animals. I did not love animals until well into my adulthood. But now that I do, it is particularly crushing to me when their dignity is compromised. I'm not trying to make it more than it is. I know animals die. I know that the life of a stray is a hard one. I do not think that cat heard me or anything like that. But it was important for me to remark upon its life. To take note. I read once that mere observation may well be the first point of generosity.