a weekend's adventure, and definitely a victory, was the story of the kittens: orange, marmelade, blue-eyed, seven weeks old; their owner at the end of his ability to find someone, ready to give them to the humane society, or let them go in the woods. he could easily be labeled as irresponsible, but that wasn't the point; we were involved because the choice of two of the kittens doomed the others, and that kind of choice is difficult. if one stays non-involved, one does nothing about their fate whatsoever, but if one actually chooses to save one or more, one actually dooms or kills others.

when i got over there there were actually three that needed saved; in this town one does that by standing at the farmer's market, off to the side a ways, with a sign. in my case a banjo was also involved. right away a woman and a young boy came and took one. she was was clueless in some ways, but did mention that her husband would only allow an orange cat, no other kind. this was lucky, for this kitten in particular, as he had at least agreed in principle.

i then waited a while, but finally a young woman came by who really knew how to handle them; she was instantly able to tell me the two remaining ones were female. the one she tried to handle had already decided that my shirt was the place to be, and wouldn't let go. so she took the other out of the crate and walked away with it. minutes later she, with friends, came back; by now that little one, the shy one, was happily ensconsed in a wrap-around shawl she'd made and was peeking out, its big blue eyes bigger now. its sister was still clinging to my shirt. but she now decided she wanted them both; her friend was graduating tonight and could surely use one. the fact that they were sisters, the kittens, i think was important. they were going to be fine.

a lingering feeling that i was doing an important thing stayed with me; i had to set down the banjo for a while, and just feel the cat on my shirt. nobody seemed to object; some liked the banjo more than the kittens. if you don't take this kitty, i'm gonna play this banjo all over your city- that was going to be my song. but i never got quite that far. came home and made pop-art, but only after grading and making an exercise; took my banjo uptown to perform in a class tomorrow, "i'd rather be a hammer than a nail"...i'll give a report. my pop art covers my computer screens; my soul clings to it, like a kitty on a shirt.