Advice from a Cat Herder

OK, so I'm up late because I don't have to get up tomorrow morning -- thank God for spring break -- and so I'm trying to get caught up on some writing and reading I wanted to do.  I'm having fun so far with ReadWritePoem's NaPoWriMo prompts.  I'm seeing them as writing exercises, which is healthy for me, and it's keeping me writing every day -- also good.  I still don't know how things will play out once school resumes, but I'm enjoying doing this for now.  I don't intend to work any more on the current poem, so I may as well post it. 

Mark Stratton says it’s time to get personal! Here’s Mark’s prompt for Day #5:  Today, let’s make poetry really personal. Give poetry, as you write it, a name. Possibly a gender. And a personality. A poet I know has written (and continues to write) a series of poems based on this principle, and I shamelessly ripped it off (with permission, of course) and made a poem I called “Sasha.” Sasha is many things, all at the same time, yet all are Sasha/poetry to me.  So it’s your turn. Give poetry — how you view poetry, what poetry means to you, your poetry — a name. Now write a poem suits your view or vision.

Though I’m a teacher, I apparently have difficulties following directions (given all the caveats and "buts" to be found below).  OK, so I didn’t personify it or anthropomorphize it so much as zoomorphize it (give it animal characteristics), but it describes what I think I have learned about poetry.

Shep, the Cat Herder, Speaks

“You have to show up for work,
and every day is best;
cats like a routine,
so they know what to expect;
sometimes they like surprises;
sometimes they’ll surprise you
out of the blue;
but mostly they get sketchy
if you switch things up on ‘em too much.
Cats don’t have to have a routine themselves,
but they like for you to have one.

“When you show up every day,
be kind, be quiet, be still.
Reach out to pet them,
but let them decide when
to come to you.
If you chase 'em,
they’ll just get skittish
and run away,
or maybe even scratch you –
and dawg, if their scratches don’t sting.
Be prepared, though
with fishy food
and kitty treats
and those feather toys they love,
because trust me,
you don’t want to be caught unprepared.
Be ready to feed 'em,
willing to play with 'em,
happy to rub 'em in the same spot ten times,
and okay with leaving 'em alone
until tomorrow.

“If you want to be a cat herder,
it helps to be intuitive.
Listen carefully to ‘em
and they’ll tell you what they want.
Mostly you just have to get out of the way,
let 'em go where they want to go,
let 'em do things in their own good time,
because they’re cats,
and that’s what they do.
You’ll get along much better
once you realize that they’re in charge
and you’re just there to serve them.”