by Alison

As a long-time cat-obsessed person, there’s something I need to come clean about.

As of the past several months I seemed to have lost my love for cats. And by “cats” I mean my very own incorrigible tabby who licks up soggy parmesan from the kitchen sink, knocks over treasured breakables and paws my daughter’s glass of milk at every chance.

So yes, my cat annoys.

But thankfully,  a cute children’s picture book came to my rescue and helped change my bad attitude. Written by Mark Poulton and Illustrated by Dexter Weeks, A Cat Named Haiku chronicles the misadventures of a naughty little cat. Haiku the cat knows there are house rules, but where’s the fun in that? And like his namesake, the mayhem that this cat causes is brought to life in 5-7-5 form.

Here is one haiku that well illustrates the creative impulses of this playful feline:

Leftover ice cream

Making chocolate paw prints

Oh how I love thee…

And here is another that gives a good explanation for why those with cat DNA simply must scratch furniture to bits:

Can’t control myself

I’ve already pressed my luck

Ahhh, this feels so good

But the life of Haiku is not all fun and games for his owner Mark, who responds to feline furniture scratching and toilet bowl licking with annoyance:

“Bad kitty, get down!”

Wait Mark, let’s talk this over

Eek, water bottle!

The humor (and yes, realism) are a big part of what makes this little picture book work, not to mention the cool comic-book style illustrations in which Haiku, despite being a pill of a cat, is just utterly adorable.

Fortunately, things wrap up well between Mark and Haiku with a lesson of forgiveness. And this has inspired me to extend an olive branch to my poor cat Icarus.  We all make mistakes, right?  And seeing as how Icarus is presently snuggling my sleeping daughter with calm, peaceful purs - I think I owe him that.

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