Poem: "What the Cat Needs"
May. 16th, 2021 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis is the freebie for the May 2021 ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from scrubjayspeaks. It also fills the "emotional first aid" square in my 5-1-21 card for the Leaky Pipeline Bingo fest.
"What the Cat Needs"
[Monday, May 11, 2015]
The hardest part about it is that
Chulli never knows what to expect.
Some days, she looks outside
and sees a purple cat watching her.
Other days, there is a girl with
purple streaks in her black hair.
Some days, there is nothing.
Chulli just tries to provide
whatever is needed by
whoever is there each day.
When it's the cat, she
gives what the cat needs:
a dry shelter and scrap meat.
Padma blinks in slow appreciation
and curls around the bowl of food.
It's peaceful in the alley behind
the restaurant, and the stray cats
enjoy their refuge back there.
When it's the girl, Chulli holds
the door open to see if she
will come inside today.
Tyria likes the food
at Basmati Blues.
She'll accept a bowl
of beans and rice, or
plain basmati rice with
some leftover curry sauce
ladled over the top of it.
She loves tandoori chicken,
which sometimes coaxes her
inside even on a bad day.
When it's nothing,
Chulli doesn't argue.
She fills the dishes
for the cats anyway;
if Padma doesn't show,
some of the other strays
certainly will instead.
Chulli understands that
that emotional first aid
isn't about giving what
you want, but about
what the other person
needs, even if they
aren't always human.
It's not all about hugs
and sympathetic listening.
Sometimes, it's giving space,
and silence without demands.
It's the security of knowing
things will always be there
waiting when you're ready.
Chulli just wants to give
Padma what the cat needs
or Tyria what the girl needs,
whatever that may be.
That's what friends are for.
* * *
Notes:
Chulli and Tyria were introduced in "No Interest in Sharing the Secret."
Basmati Blues is a Soul Food / Indian fusion restaurant. Recipes include Basmati Rice, Beans and Rice, and Tandoori Chicken.
Many Indian curries amount to "chunks of stuff in curry sauce." If you put that in a buffet, people tend to pick out the chunks, leaving some gravy behind. In Terramagne-America, it's fairly common for Indian restaurants to pour that over plain rice as a bargain dish or something they give free to broke people. If they add a scoop of lentil dal, it's actually a complete meal. In Soul Food restaurants, the cheap or free item is often some form of Beans and Rice, also a complete meal.
Emotional First Aid comes in many forms.
crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from scrubjayspeaks. It also fills the "emotional first aid" square in my 5-1-21 card for the Leaky Pipeline Bingo fest."What the Cat Needs"
[Monday, May 11, 2015]
The hardest part about it is that
Chulli never knows what to expect.
Some days, she looks outside
and sees a purple cat watching her.
Other days, there is a girl with
purple streaks in her black hair.
Some days, there is nothing.
Chulli just tries to provide
whatever is needed by
whoever is there each day.
When it's the cat, she
gives what the cat needs:
a dry shelter and scrap meat.
Padma blinks in slow appreciation
and curls around the bowl of food.
It's peaceful in the alley behind
the restaurant, and the stray cats
enjoy their refuge back there.
When it's the girl, Chulli holds
the door open to see if she
will come inside today.
Tyria likes the food
at Basmati Blues.
She'll accept a bowl
of beans and rice, or
plain basmati rice with
some leftover curry sauce
ladled over the top of it.
She loves tandoori chicken,
which sometimes coaxes her
inside even on a bad day.
When it's nothing,
Chulli doesn't argue.
She fills the dishes
for the cats anyway;
if Padma doesn't show,
some of the other strays
certainly will instead.
Chulli understands that
that emotional first aid
isn't about giving what
you want, but about
what the other person
needs, even if they
aren't always human.
It's not all about hugs
and sympathetic listening.
Sometimes, it's giving space,
and silence without demands.
It's the security of knowing
things will always be there
waiting when you're ready.
Chulli just wants to give
Padma what the cat needs
or Tyria what the girl needs,
whatever that may be.
That's what friends are for.
* * *
Notes:
Chulli and Tyria were introduced in "No Interest in Sharing the Secret."
Basmati Blues is a Soul Food / Indian fusion restaurant. Recipes include Basmati Rice, Beans and Rice, and Tandoori Chicken.
Many Indian curries amount to "chunks of stuff in curry sauce." If you put that in a buffet, people tend to pick out the chunks, leaving some gravy behind. In Terramagne-America, it's fairly common for Indian restaurants to pour that over plain rice as a bargain dish or something they give free to broke people. If they add a scoop of lentil dal, it's actually a complete meal. In Soul Food restaurants, the cheap or free item is often some form of Beans and Rice, also a complete meal.
Emotional First Aid comes in many forms.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-18 04:27 am (UTC)https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BPD84itI-x4
It can also be interpreted as a platonic love song, which is unusual. (I find most love songs are written as romantic, unless they fall into the lullaby or religious categories...)