My cat Izzy

Started out life in a household

With many other cats and kittens

Lost among the debris of a place so hard bitten that

You were never surprised when a new cat reared up.

Hah you would exclaim

I hadn’t noticed that tabby before

And then the cat would disappear again

Under a dilapidated armchair upside down on the porch.

Well, the owner of this scorched home decided one day

To pare down the number of animals wandering through his residence

And gathered up a variety.

He offered

Izzy to my son

Izzy, he said, was a fun young feline

Who would make a lovely companion.

My son adored his new cat

Until one day

Taken with a woman

He moved away, leaving Izzy with me.

When my son’s romance fizzled out and he came back

Izzy stayed with me

Making the best of my little old lady house.

But nowadays

When my son visits he holds Izzy upside down in the air

And jiggles her

An act of love which she remembers with nostalgia.