Let sleeping cats lie Pet poems

British poet Bilston (Refugees) delivers heart-wrenching insight and frequent laughs in this pet-themed poetry collection. Cats type missives in a selection whose title mimics text produced via a paw-smashed keyboard ("Twelve whole pages/ containing just the number 7 seemed a little excessive"), and dogs opine about watering flowers in "a short poem written by my dog" ("Roses are grey/ Violets are grey/ I cock my leg/ And give them a spray"), while stanzas about other offbeat creatures resonate with dry humor and surprises. One amusingly notes that blue whales make poor pets because they "take up all the sofa" and "can be hard to get into their carriers when/ it's time for the annual check-up." Creative typesetting amplifies the whimsy present in some poems: black type becomes fainter as it describes a vanishing chameleon, and a wandering snail's trail loop-de-loops across pages. Featured alongside these silly and irreverent moments are poems that evoke tears, as in a verse about a pet yearning for a chance to be "the one" adopted from a shelter, and another about a beleaguered child persevering through an awful day because their dog awaits them at home. Ages 8--11. (June)