POETRY | I Am The Cat Poetry Collection

The noted author and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins has brought together a diverse collection of 24 poems in praise of cats. This favorite pet is first introduced as a small mischief-maker investigating its world. Later, we meet marmalade cats. Siamese cats, spotted cats, white cats, lame cats, the old Tom cat, and the "everlasting cat" -- "cunning, and old, and sleek as jam". Then there is the bird watcher and the bird catcher. There are cats in various poses --- stretching, yawning, sleeping --- and in various places --- on top of the piano, on the radiator, on the bedspread, or, typically cat-like, comfortably compressed in an old box.

An impressive array of poets have painted these pictures for us, among them T.S. Eliot, Carmen Bernos de Gasztold, Eleanor Farjeon, William Carlos Williams, May Swenson, Kay Starbird, James Kirkup, Myra Cohn Livingston, and Aileen Fisher. The animals themselves are brought to life by Linda Rochester, a cat owner herself, with marvelously detailed and striking line drawings. The result is an intellectually appealing and visually attractive anthology for readers of all ages, whether or not their households are ruled by a cat.

~~ from hardcover edition dustjacket

★★★☆☆
Originally published in 1981, I Am the Cat is a collection of 24 cat-centric poems by various established poets such as T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams (Can you really have a collection of cat poems and NOT include Eliot? 😉). Lee Bennett Hopkins serves as editor to the collection while also providing a poem or two himself.

The poems are cute but mostly mediocre IMO. The art is really what brings this collection together...though a few of the illustrations may be somewhat disturbing to really young children.

I did really enjoy "The Cat" by WH Davies, my very favorite was "Cats" by Eleanor Farjeon... btw, the other poems get a little more creative with their titles LOL, just so happened that the couple that stood out to me were more on the nose with it.

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