As I was standing by the window peeling an after-lunch apple, my neighbor called, telling me her cats were out. I put down the phone and went out. This was no time to procrastinate. A second late, they would be gone.
The cats were mother and son. The mother was once a wanderer, a cat-shaped piece of darkness except for a pair of gleaming eyes, perfect outfit for a wandering life, especially at night. She was extremely sensitive and scared of any sudden sound and movement. I did not get to see her at all last time I visited. Now she was at her coresident's feet, enjoying her favorite red comb gliding through her short hair. But she soon caught my eyes, mistook my admiration for a hunter's hungry gaze and disappeared behind the curtain.
The son was all black except for a white triangle around the nose, a white bow-tie at the neck, a white strip down the belly and four snow white paws. No doubt he was less traumatized. He stuck out his head out of the railing and studied me, brushed his shoulder against my neighbor's feet, stretched against the fake pine wall, sharpened his claws and attempted to reach for the bird feeder hanging on the eaves, all the time while my neighbor and I exchanged smiles and comments about him, she on her second floor balcony, me on the grassy slope under an empty cherry tree, soaking up the sun.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
It must be great to be born in a tuxedo.
bingo, mike:)
couldn't find your email address. so i'm leaving the message here:
This Thursday (April.19) Columbia EALAC (Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures) and CUCSSA present you with a distinguished Chinese poetry symposium titled "Who/What Travels in Poetry Translation?" This event is featuring some of the most prominent poets, literary critics and scholars of contemporary China, Zhai Yongming, Xi Chuan, Tang Xiaodu and Zhou Zan to name a few. The Columbia Chinese poetry society will be previliged to hear their verses and voices and join them in a real conversation.
The event is free and open to public. Refreshments will be served. We welcome all!
Event: Chinese Poetry Symposium: Who/What Travels in Poetry Translation?
Time: 1:00pm-3:00pm, April. 19, 2007
Place: Lerner Hall, C555
Speakers:
*Tang Xiaodu (唐晓渡), distinguished critic of contemporary Chinese poetry*
*Chen Chao (陈超), distinguished scholar of poetry and poetics*
*Zhai Yongming (翟永明), major Chinese poet, essayist*
*Luo Ying, poet and philanthropist *
*Zhao Ye (赵野), poet and film maker*
*Sun Yi (孙怡), poet, graduated student at NYU*
*Xi Chuan (西川), poet, essayist, and translator; visiting professor at NYU*
*Zhou Zan (周瓒), poet, critic, and visiting scholar at Columbia University*
Post a Comment