February 10, 2021
My hands are cold today, as I type this latest entry for my new book (which will become an old book or ‘my last book’ by the time the work is done and I have sauntered off like a pussycat to some other sunny project). I am comfortably inside the house, warming my fingers at the hearth of, by the exercise of imagination. It is immensely satisfying to be a Mr. imagining human being. I have imagination as a hearth to keep me warm, as a magic carpet to fly on.
I compare and consider, today, our friend and companion the pussycat and my opposite, the woman. I am, presently, drawing satisfaction from being curious if a pussycat imagines it is satisfying to be a pussycat? I wonder if Mrs. human being is satisfied by imaging such a thing? Is everyone satisfied by being what they are and imagining as they do? It also satisfies me by imagination that a cat can fly. Do women do that? Do they imagine cats flying? I hear that Erica Jong wrote a book about being afraid of flying and explained there is a different imagination for women and for men. Flying is a different sort of imaginary satisfaction between the two. I wonder does Mr. pussycat find satisfaction in imagining flying, if that’s a thing they do?
I most often use the prepositions ‘he’ and ‘his’ and consider a male pussycat’s possible point of view since I identify with/as the male and have not much ability to imagine the elusive female points of view, whether animal or vegetable. Minerals seem not to be sexed, though planets are — witness ‘mother’ earth. It might be said that Mother Earth conceives immaculately, hence the flora and fauna we are surrounded by. It may also be said, to complete the halves of circles we know everything to be, that we have a Mother Earth and a Father sun? a Father air? a Father water? That is the more likely thing, to have a Mother Earth and several Fathers. Sun, Air and Water can be witnessed to combine in a fairly noisy coitus with Mother Earth.
I have heard pussycats at ‘play’ and am now projecting the image/audio on the activity of Earth, Air, Sun and Water. Whether this mixing of elements is noisy might be proved by a summer’s afternoon thunderstorm? All of it wet and wild, with clouds flying. I am nearly sure of this logical-to-me stream but more imagining will have to occur. I enjoy the work of imagining. Imagining is a part of being human that can be very, very satisfying. Imagination can solve the same questions that imagination asks. I am a male human and I do this, I have trouble imagining that a cat (Mr. or Mrs.) or female human does not or does so differently.
By my witness, the pussycat’s tail is not imaginary and controls his balance. Both male and female pussycats (unless altered by misfortune) have this tail ability. The way I see it, It is important that the tail provide correction and counter-weight when imaginary flying. A misdirected twitch during flight can have bad consequences since the wings, themselves are imaginary. At a moment’s untimely realization and then over-twitch to correct trajectory mistake, in fear, the most carefully imagined wings would certainly puff away into nothing, providing no support. I have often witnessed a cat flight/leap go awry, be aborted myself. One time I keep in mind was a pussycat leap for a toilet seat that was unexpectedly open. Said pussycat lost attitude control when surprised by open space where he thought something solid should have been. He (again, male) over-twitched and landed with one arm in the wet of the toilet bowl. He was not pleased, that much was obvious. I didn’t need to imagine that, I could see it in his face, hear it in his surprised out-cry. I can suppose that a she-cat would have done the same, even though I didn’t actually see that happen.
I have had a sister, a mother and a brief marriage to a woman. None of those events enlightened or convinced me regarding the female point of view and whether or not there actually is one that is different. I don’t know, If we are imaginary flying what our tail might be. Perhaps I was absent on ‘learning day’. I was watching TV and couldn’t hear the loudly voiced opinion. I have to assume that because everything is perfect that somehow women and men and cats all have tails for balance, if we are imaginary flying.
I was never married to a cat and never went to catch one and bring it home. They have been around me a lot but, again, I never learned what their imagination or opinions are, whether they are different than mine. I never found reason to believe that the female human has a point of view that is separate and distinct from the male point of view. My lack of understanding of the pussycat view is similar. Folks have sworn there are differences, that it is so but I cannot see it, in my mind’s eye. I know (outside of imagination) only that we all eat, sleep and poop. Who knows if all creatures imagine flying or going to London and visiting the queen? I prefer to believe we do.
The obvious difference between my imagination and the pussycat’s is that he actually leaps into the air. I do not, I keep it cool and imagine safely. One difference between my imaging that the pussycat is flying and a female human imaging it is that our breasts (if we still have them) are of dissimilar sizes. That’s what I see. The pussycat leaps, the female noticing the flight, like me, does not leap but is a different shape than me when I notice the flight. Still, the imagination is the same thing for all three of us.
Right now, I have this creepy imaginary feeling there is a Mrs. Pussycat typing away, seated on a cushion next to a register. She is wondering if humans, male or female ever imagine they are flying. Then, watching what appears to be clumsy staggering and ungraceful ‘flying’ as one of the humans walks by with only two legs to accomplish the task, “Are they always drunk?” she asks.
Robert On The Air 