On April 25, eleven of us gathered at Wild Birds Unlimited with owner Brooke – and shop cat Willow – to share poems about cats and dogs. Some of the poems were our own creations, some were by well-known poets such as Billy Collins. A couple of people shared poems about beloved dogs they had recently lost; the emotions were still raw, and they had a little trouble reading through them. But these poems were infused with sentiment rather than sentimentality, which made the all-important difference in their effect.
And as always, Willow entertained us with her participation, sniffing at our shoes and purses, climbing on the bags of bird seed stacked behind us, batting her toys around our toes. Brooke served us cookies and bottles of cold water. It was a delightful hour well spent.