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Curse of the Cat Woman--Edward Field

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Edward Field is a new discovery of mine, and here's a representative poem, both funny and odd, like most of his work that I've read.



Curse of the Cat Woman
by Edward Field

It sometimes happens
that the woman you meet and fall in love with
is of that strange Transylvanian people
with an affinity for cats.

You take her to a restaurant, say, or a show,
on an ordinary date, being attracted
by the glitter in her slitty eyes and her catlike walk,
and afterward of course you take her in your arms,
and she turns into a black panther
and bites you to death.

Or perhaps you are saved in the nick of time,
and she is tormented by the knowledge of her tendency:
that she daren't hug a man
unless she wants to risk clawing him up.

This puts you both in a difficult position,
panting lovers who are prevented from touching
not by bars but by circumstance:
you have terrible fights and say cruel things,
for having the hots does not give you a sweet temper.

One night you are walking down a dark street
and hear the padpad of a panther following you,
but when you turn around there are only shadows,
or perhaps one shadow too many

You approach, calling, "Who's there?"
and it leaps on you.
Luckily you have brought along your sword,
and you stab it to death.

And before your eyes it turns into the woman you love,
her breast impaled on your sword,
her mouth dribbling blood saying she loved you
but couldn't help her tendency.

So death released her from the curse at last,
and you knew from the angelic smile on her dead face
that in spite of a life the devil owned,
love had won, and heaven pardoned her.











Nice, eh?? I love especially the first half of this poem because it could really go anywhere subject-wise. I wish I could write something funny. As it is, my new poetry manuscript (as opposed to the four old ones) is called 'Two Crows Short of a Murder.' Funny, eh?












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  1. Jack VeaseyDecember 20, 2011 at 2:29 PM
    I've loved Edward Field's poetry since I first discovered it in the late seventies. His book "A Full Heart," probably long out of print, is a particular favorite of mine.
    ReplyDelete
  2. Edward FieldDecember 20, 2011 at 5:04 PM
    thanks for discovering me!  i love it!  and i'm still doing it\ -- you can see me reading some of my poems on youtube under fieldinski -- edward field too, but other stuff is mixed in there.  my latest book is "After the Fall, Poems Old and New" (pittsburgh).
    ReplyDelete
  3. JohnFebruary 2, 2012 at 5:13 AM
    This blog is great source of information which is very useful for me. Thank you very much.

    BEST FUNNY LOVE POEMS.
    ReplyDelete











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