{"id":1142,"date":"2008-01-09T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-09T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=1142"},"modified":"2008-01-09T11:11:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-09T11:11:00","slug":"cat-by-catherine-busby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/cat-by-catherine-busby\/","title":{"rendered":"Cat by Catherine Busby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cat<\/span>


My daughter purrs and rubs her head against my chin. <\/span>
It means she wants some love.<\/span>
She laps soya milk from a saucer.<\/span>

Nights are sleepless<\/span>
Her brain can't rest<\/span>
And so we start the day with bleary eyes. <\/span>
Tired miaows.<\/span>
Even KittyCats must go to school. <\/span>

Some times she stays <\/span>
Curled tightly in a ball<\/span>
She lies amidst our cats<\/span>
And speaks softly with them. <\/span>
On those days I teach <\/span>
And stroke her <\/span>
As we learn the circulatory system and<\/span>
My own heart expands. <\/span>
I reach around and hold her close.<\/span>
Place my lips against her skin. <\/span>
Breathe in her scent<\/span>
And close my weeping eyes. <\/span>
I cover her with fluttery kisses from babyhood.<\/span>
We giggle and she chatters like a pull-string toy.<\/span>

Her mania continues,<\/span>
Wild laughter. <\/span>
Animal sounds. <\/span>
My beautiful daughter wings her feral way. <\/span>
And as her pendulum begins to swing<\/span>
I keep our family clock ticking,<\/span>
Real-time.<\/span>


My life is on hold, happening to me.<\/span>
I watch from someplace else.<\/span>

And still her brain can\u2019t rest.<\/span>
Her eyes and face are blank.<\/span>
She mews.<\/span>
“Mummy, KittyCat is tired.” <\/span>
Catatonic.<\/span>
Our tears fall. <\/span>

When I seek help<\/span>
I am handed a magic wand inside a blister pack.<\/span>

My daughter calls to me.<\/span>
Thick black words, <\/span>
Swirling shapes and heavy patterns<\/span>
Adorn her walls. <\/span>
Deep-grey eyes reach inside my face. <\/span>
“Mummy, Help me.”<\/span>
She is tripping. <\/span>
Terrified. <\/span>
I have no antidote. <\/span>

“My brain is broken, isn't it?”<\/span>
She knows she soars and plunges<\/span>
And wishes that she didn't.<\/span>
She knows that people laugh and stare<\/span>
And I tell her, “Yes, my love, they do.”<\/span>

The doctors talk of Lithium. <\/span>

I cannot make my daughter better. <\/span>
I love her.<\/span>
I accept her.<\/span>
I enjoy her.<\/span>
She is my delight, my muse, <\/span>
My uninhibited beauty. <\/span>

My daughter purrs.<\/span>
It means she wants some love. <\/span>
What a clever KittyCat she is. <\/span>


\u2022 Catherine Busby says “I live in Somerset, in a small grey town, but hope to flee to a place with strong winds and seagulls one day… I have two teenage daughters and so consequently spend a lot of time driving! I use that time to allow my mind to wander freely. I always follow the Highway Code.”<\/span>


<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CatMy daughter purrs and rubs her head against my chin. It means she wants some love.She laps soya milk from a saucer.Nights are sleeplessHer brain can't restAnd so we start the day with bleary eyes. Tired miaows.Even KittyCats must go to school. Some times she stays Curled tightly in a ballShe lies amidst our catsAnd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}