Cat In A Termite-Tented House Poem by gershon hepner

CAT IN A TERMITE-TICKING HOUSE


Cat in a termite-ticking house,
you are as hot to your beloved spouse––
I think beloved, for it’s only right
that I should be beloved in your sight––
as tin roofs are to actresses who play
around and keep their drunken men at bay.
When in your termite-ticking house you next
feel in the mood for me, as highly-sexed
as Maggie when portrayed by Tennessee,
please let me know, and I will let you see
that, whether drunk or sober or demented,
it’s my intent that you’ll by me be tented,
I know your needs, dear cat, and share them:
so throw your legs into the air and bare them,
before the candidates stop politicking,
and termites, all aghast, have stopped their ticking.

A birthday greeting to Linda, inspired 99% by her,05% by her termite-ticking house, and 0.5% by Ben Brantley’s review of “Cat on a Hot Tim Roof, ” with an amazing picture of Anika Noni Rose, kicking (rhymes with politicking and ticking) her legs in the air, observed by Terrence Howard:
Maggie, as you may recall, has an exceptionally clear through line for a Williams character. She has to make her husband, long absent from her bed, have sex with her again. This is because: 1) she really loves him; 2) a woman has her needs; 3) if she doesn’t conceive a child, it’s possible that the estate of the terminally ill Big Daddy will go to his other son, Gooper (Giancarlo Esposito) , who has an annoyingly fertile and conniving wife (Lisa Arrindell Anderson) . It’s the hot-and-bothered aspect of Maggie that originally made “Cat” a succès de scandale. But it was her unyielding will to survive that most interested Williams. Though Ms. Rose wears a slinky slip as beguilingly as Ms. Taylor did, it’s her take-charge energy and unembarrassed directness that make this Maggie such a stimulating presence. When she exclaims, “Maggie the cat is alive! , ” you can only nod in admiring agreement.


3/7/08