The Cat With Gold Eyes
I have no idea where this poem came from. I haven’t been to any museums or art galleries. I don’t own a cat (though I have nothing against them). I saw a list of single word prompts the other day and the first five words were gold, eye, painter, saying, and fanciful, and this suddenly popped into my head. Maybe it came because I’ve been watching a lot of cat and dog videos on YouTube lately. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one.
The painter's brush
left his fingerprint on the canvas.
No one would argue
the fanciful black cat
with gold eyes
was a Louis Wain original.
No, this was quite a departure from that.
It was definitely the eyes
that sucked any whimsy that might be found.
The eyes weren't the yellow,
half-hazel-half-brown
you sometimes see in real cats.
Disturbing is what they were,
cold and hard,
and polished like a gold brick.
People stopped and stared,
but didn't linger.
I overheard someone saying,
“If only the eyes were green or blue—
but the gold made me shiver.”
I understood exactly what they meant.
I wouldn't want to meet that cat
in a dark alley—or anywhere.
As I left the gallery
I wondered if the cat
was all imagination or
maybe the artist's familiar,
and hoped nothing
would pounce out of the darkness.
~Elise Skidmore ©2025
I find it amazing that you can write a poem with a few words to prompt it. I don’t have that talent and imagination. Loved the poem. 🥰
Thanks, Rosemary. It’s funny, but sometimes some of the things I’ve written from prompts like this have become favorites of mine. I don’t know why it works for me, maybe it helps me get out of my own head and jump into another box entirely.
I enjoyed this poem very much. It was intriguing and I could not predict in which direction it would go. Cats are always mysterious and a bitother worldly.
Thanks, Denise. I agree with you about cats. We always had them when I was growing up because my mother loved them and they were easier to take care of in an apartment than dogs are. They’re smart and very independent, but can be very loving if they want to be. It’s not surprising that the ancient Egyptians worshiped them.
(Side note that has nothing to do with cats–my spellchecker tells me that the past tense of worship only has 1 “p” but it looks wrong to me. My brain is saying it’s 2, but I’m letting the spellcheck have its way this time.)