Neil McKay's Shared Poems

That cat sleeps all day while I'm gone
He sleeps all night in the crook of my knee
In the evening when I read
He settles onto my shoulder
To purr and snore in my ear
In his youth, he was a hunter
Of mythical proportions
Feared by mice and moles
Hoisting rabbits onto the porch
Once he caught a hummingbird in midflight
And swallowed it whole
He howled with the coyotes all night
Kept the cougars and bears away from our
cabin in the north woods
On occasion he attacked me
He still does
Although the squirrels wander
through the yard untouched.

I have much in common with Albert Einstein,
Our names flaunt the "i before e" rule for one thing.
I imagine he too had trouble spelling receive and weird,
Due to overcompensating for his exceptional name
I'm not sure I spelled them right even now.

As long as we're talking about names,
Albert, again like Neil, is one of those handles
Upon which you cannot hang a familiar "y"
Johnny, Bobby, Mikey,
Neil and Albert. The calling of children's names
imbues unasked for personality traits.

Serious and confused, Albert and Neil
Retreated into the inner world of imagination
Resulting in genius revelations,
In his case, relativity, in mine, comic effect
Speed of light versus pacing of punchlines.

It just goes to show you, a smart man
And a funny man are more alike than different
If you ask the funny man.

The sound of clothes in the dryer,
Buttons scraping along the inner drum,
Motor humming a happy tune,
Reminds me that things are getting done
Even as I sit down to write.

My cat likes you,
And that is important.
Because if he didn't,
I would miss him terribly.

With an inattentive waitress,
And mediocre food,
In a chilly drizzle,
After a long day,
I had the most
Enjoyable time tonight.
With you.