ARTSPEAK! Poem #5 "Cat & Bird"

Hello, and welcome to day #5 of ARTSPEAK!, my 2015 Poem-a-Day Project for National Poetry Month 2015, in which I am writing from images found in the online collections of the National Gallery of Art and focusing on dialogue, conversations, what does the piece say?

Today's piece is "Cat Watching Caged Bird" by Jacques Callot.

Now, here is a conversation! So many things could be happening in this piece... but the cat doesn't look particularly menacing, does she? Certainly curious... and the bird is not cowering in a corner. It seems to know it's safe on its perch. I imagined this as a daily happening -- could these two possibly be friends? I decided to explore this idea by writing a poem for two voices. 

What would your Cat and Bird say to one another??

By the way, an interesting theme is emerging... 4 of the 5 poems I've written this month have somehow addressed the idea of waiting. The chair wasn't just waiting, the girl was most definitely waiting, the rocks were sort of waiting in their stillness, and today Cat speaks of waiting! 

I tell you, poetry is a wise, mysterious beast. It reveals our hearts to us.

Be sure to visit Charles Waters' blog to see how our Progressive Poem is progressing!