August’s poem

What with “back to school” sales, Karin & I had a look inside T.J. Maxx. It was my first visit in a decade or so. Prices seemed conspicuously higher, and I was surprised to see so many fashionistas combing through the goods. The air was downright rarefied. The merchandise, as before, was not.

But I must give credit where it’s due. When one buys children’s “board” books, T.J. Maxx should be among one’s first stops. There were lots of marked-down copies of Corduroy – an appropriate ware, since that story is set in what appears to be the T.J. Maxx of its day.

Here is some store-art that tempted us.

Which brings me to this month’s poem, T. S. Eliot’s “The Naming of Cats”:

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The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,

It isn’t just one of your holiday games;

You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter

When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,

Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo, or James,

Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey –

All of them sensible everyday names.

There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,

Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:

Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter –

But all of them sensible everyday names.

But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,

A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,

Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,

Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,

Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,

Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum –

Names that never belong to more than one cat.

But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,

And that is the name that you never will guess;

The name that no human research can discover –

But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.

When you notice a cat in profound meditation,

The reason, I tell you, is always the same:

His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation

Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:

His ineffable effable

Effanineffable

Deep and inscrutable singular name.

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