Better Living through Cats

In this debut chapbook, feline companions, nature, and imagination help the poems' protagonist and readers navigate different ages of loss by being mindful in the search for refuge. Better Living through Cats takes readers on a transtemporal excursion to meet ancestors, reflect on childhood, and face middle-age responsibilities. Throughout the pages, cats interact sweetly with each other and their humans. Some help quell anxiety and depression; others sit with grief. As metaphors for a range of human emotions, cats pad alongside generations of family members. Joy, fatigue, grief, awe, anticipation, and hope spring from the poems. When conditions pass from house to home as inherited culture, how can one negotiate the past and continuous change for better living? The poet escorts readers across the U.S. from Southern roots to a Midwest stopover to pine-filled Washington State. History unfolds in poetic lines as the author's language forges through troubled dreams to metered visions, contemplates gardens and woods, and searches to transgress constraints. A hopeful arc points to living fully by polishing one's essence-whether out in the world or at home with a cat. The chapbook's themes feature memory, place, home, agency, and resilience, all of which are central issues in author Clark A. Pomerleau's creative writing and historical study.