AtoZ Challenge; K is for Kate Wakeling

Kate Wakeling‘s poems have appeared in many magazines and anthologies. Her debut collection of children’s poetry, Moon Juice, illustrated by Elīna Brasliņa (The Emma Press) was described by The Sunday Times as “clever, funny, inspiring”, and won the 2017 CLiPPA; it was also nominated for the 2018 Carnegie Medal. You can buy and read about Moon Juice here. There is a link to Kate’s website here.

Here is the lovely poem Kate sent for the poetry feast:

.

Jungle Cat

I lived for a while in a village in Bali. After many nights hearing strange noises coming from the ceiling, I found out I was sharing the house with a jungle cat. Jungle cats are larger than ordinary cats with long legs and an extra tuft of fur on each ear.

They told me
you live in my roof,
jungle cat.

Fire-eyed
trick-tailed
sleep thief.

You rumble the night
with your claw dance,
your tooth song.

I hear you yowl and pounce
and hiss and purr.

You scratch my sleep.

You creep across my cat naps.

Years later,
I find you still roaming my roof,
a wild thing
grinning
in the black night…

.

© Kate Wakeling

If you would like to blog hop to another A to Z Challenge, please follow this link.

Children’s Poets’ Climate Change blog: Be the Change

Liz’s Blog: Liz Brownlee Poet

Liz’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lizpoet

KidsPoets4Climate Twitter: https://twitter.com/poets4climate

Children’s Poetry Summit Twitter: https://twitter.com/kidspoetsummit