The Poetry Stash: 08Feb2024

Today’s poem is “The Cat and The Moon” by W.B.Yeats from the collection, The Wild Swans at Coole. The book is available for purchase here.

The Cat and The Moon by W.B. Yeats

The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top.
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.

Prompts:

1.	Choose an animal and an object. Write about how they could be “kin.”
2.	Give an animal a name and tell their story.
3.	Include dialogue and questions in a draft.
4.	Begin with “When two close kindred meet…”
5.	Notice that the poem describes the “creeping” cat who either “creeps” or “runs through the grass” several times. Write a draft in which a line is repeated at least three times.

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