I am participating in two challenges this month, OctPoWriMo and Inktober. To make it easier on myself, I’m trying to write a new poem on odd-numbered days and make a drawing on even-numbered days.

Today’s prompt is Fur Babies.

No, these are not Stripy and Schwartz. I couldn’t find a picture of them. Sorry.

Our First Two Cats

I gave my daughter the job
of naming the two kittens.
She named the tabby Stripy
and the black one Schwartz.
(Schwartz was also a nickname I called my daughter.)

One year we ordered cat Christmas ornaments engraved with their names
but they sent us child ornaments instead.
I imagined the confusion of the engraver—
They have a kid named Schwartz?
They have a kid named Stripy?

When we moved across the country,
for logistics sake, we found them a new home
with an older woman who lived alone.
She phoned us more than once
to tell us how much it meant to her
to come home from work and be greeted
by her kitties; no more lonesome home.