One of my favorite books of poems is by Francesco Marciuliano, who also writes the comic strip Sally Forth, published in 700 newspapers. Here’s one of his poems:

Give

You can’t hold someone who wants to leave

You can’t clutch a memory as if it were today

You can’t take an insult close to heart

You can’t grasp for glory from your chair

You can’t seize life thinking only of loss

And you can’t grab a laser pointer dot on the wall

No matter how much you try

These hard-earned truths I give to you

The book is called "I Could Pee On This", and all the poems are written from a cat’s perspective. It’s hilarious, and captures the logic cat must use to do the things they do. Ironically, there are many truths identified that apply to the human condition and attitude, as well. Take the poem above, for example, and what I think it means:

You can’t hold love against its will

You can’t live in the past

Don’t be thinned skinned, or take things too personally

You can’t win if you don’t play

Life goes on

Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice

it must be a laser pointer dot

My own cat wrote that last line.

Pick out one or two of the truths that apply to you, and use them to make it a great day.

Ron

If you’d like to read more fun poems by cats, I Could Pee On This by Francesco Marciuliano is available at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.