Poetry Blog 1

"The Cat," by Miroslav Holub is a very relatable poem, which I think is the poem's point. The first stanza describes the almost blank darkness of nighttime beyond a city window, the stars swallowed by the glow of urban light; or as Holub puts it, "And the eternal dark/ dripped to the stars through the sieve of the/ city." This imagery creates the poem's setting; one that is widely know by modern day humans. With the next stanza, Holub's story begins. The narrator warns whichever "she" he is referring to not to go into the dark. he reasons with her, "why want/ nothing?" This dialogue creates foreshadowing for what happens in the next few stanzas: a "black cat," who is probably the previously titled "she," "dissolves" into the blackness outside, and disappears forever. This poem seems to be straightforward, but I don't think it's really about a cat. The cat seems to symbolize someone in Holub's life, or even himself, who seems to have disappeared into nothingness. It could even symbolize a part of himself that he has lost; maybe dreams that he has lost to the nothingness that is the real world. The relatable part of this poem returns with the last stanza, where Holub says, "But you can hear her/ sometimes,... and you listen intently/ to your own self." This is where the reader relates to Holub: Everyone has lost a part of themself--be it a person or a relationship or a dream--that sometimes echoes when you are in touch with yourself.