Louis Wain: Catavaggio Poem by Richard George

1

He first sketched the kitten
to comfort his young wife
in her last months: and when she died,
the cats took over.
Everything they did they un-
Midas-touched with mayhem,
decades before Eliot.

2

But royalties played possum,
and bankruptcy's bullmastiff tailed him down:
he saw his two tortoiseshell
sisters hit by cars -
and his mind strayed.
In Napsbury's magic manse,
behind high walls, he rediscovered fun:
the Thirties were a sugar mouse.

At sixteen, he had a stroke
and woke the final time to hear
'War is coming'.
Whatever war was, it was
the end for cats.

3

I was watching TRIGGER HAPPY
with my vodka genie.
Enter left, three mischief-men
in cat suits; grab the milk crates
and waddle off to Elton John.
A presence snuggled to me:
I must be going mad, but

I heard you laugh.