Welcome, poetry fans! Skye Blake reporting in with poems I’ve found about cats.
Poets have written about our feline selves in many interesting ways, both in days gone by and modern times.
This fun page is one that will always expand, with new poems being added frequently.
There are thousands of poems in the universe and more always being created, both by amateur and professional poets.
The collection of cat poems below reflects many styles, perspectives, and eras, from happy to sad, silly to dark.
It includes poems for both adults and children. Use your discretion and enjoy!
Who Is Skye Blake?
Skye Blake, Cat Info Detective, is a curious cat researcher (not a librarian) who sniffs out expert, reliable sources about cats, reviews their information, then passes it on to you!
Each page has a list of sources at the bottom if you want to investigate further.
Poems About Cats – Alphabetical by Title
“16+ Cat Poems For Kids To Read” 🐈, Imagine Forest
A-B
“A Cat Might Sit up in a Tree” by Annette Wynne, DiscoverPoetry.com
“Adam Waking” by Katie Peterson | Poetry Foundation
“And I will consider the yellow dog” by Fran Lock, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Another Insane Devotion” by Gerald Stern | Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Baudelaire’s Cats” by Hy Sobiloff , Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The Black Cat” by Frances Shaw, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Black Cats, Beware!” (familyfriendpoems.com)
“Blond Cat” by Melvin Geer Shelley, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
C
“A Cat” by Edward Thomas, All Poetry
“Cat” by Helen Birch Murphy, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Cat” by Marilyn Singer, Poetry Foundation
“Cat” by Ted Hughes, Poetry By Heart
“The Cat and the Fiddle” by Mary Swander, Poetry Foundation
“Cat and Mouse” by David Campbell, (mustlovecats.net)
“Cat and Mouse” by Ted Hughes, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The Cat at the Last Supper” by Roy Marz | Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Cat, Failing” by Robin Robertson, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The Cat In the Kitchen” by Robert Bly, (mustlovecats.net)
“Cat Moving Kittens” by Austin Smith, Poetry Foundation
“The Cat of the House” by Ford Madox Ford, (mustlovecats.net)
“Cat Poem“, spoken by Miriam Sachs & Rhiannon McGavin, Los Angeles Team,
2015 – Brave New Voices (Finals), YouTube
“Cat Poems – Modern Award-winning Cat Poetry” – All Poetry
“Cat Poems To Lift Your Heart” (our-happy-cat.com)
“The Cat Sat on the Mat” by Eric Mottram | Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The Cat Sat on the Mat. In Defense of Illiteracy” by Zbigniew Herbert, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The Cat Songs” by Henry Sloss, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Cats and Zinnias” by Nelson Antrim Crawford, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Cats, Now and Forever” by Elaine Equi, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The Cat’s Song” by Marge Piercy, Poetry Foundation
“The Cats Will Know” by Cesare Pavese, Poetry Foundation
“Cheshire Cat” by Kenneth Allott, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Consider Two Cats” by Charles Oluf Olsen, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The Cougar” by Keith Holyoak (blackcatpoems.com)
D-J
“The Doorstop in the Shape of a Calico Cat” by David Keller, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Ella Mason and Her Eleven Cats” by Sylvia Plath, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“February” by Margaret Atwood | Poetry Foundation
“Feeding the Neighbor’s Cat” by John Dickson, Poetry Magazine
“Finding the Cat in a Spring Field at Midnight” by Pattiann Rogers, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The First Cat” by Arthur Guiterman (blackcatpoems.com)
“For a Deaf Angora Cat” by William Jay Smith, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffrey” from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart | Poetry Foundation
“From Under the Mat Where Sat the Cat” by Gerrit Lansing, Poetry Foundation
“The House-Cat” by Annette Wynne, DiscoverPoetry.com
“Humerous Cat Poems” (dennydavis.net)
“If Not for the Cat” by Jack Prelutsky, Poetry Foundation
“In Honor of Taffy Topaz” by Christopher Morley, DiscoverPoetry.com
K-M
“A Kitten” by Eleanor Farjeon, mustlovecats.net
“The Kitten and Falling Leaves“, by William Wordsworth (blackcatpoems.com)
“Kitty and Mouse” by Anonymous, DiscoverPoetry.com
“A Little Language” by Robert Duncan | Poetry Foundation
“The Little New Pupil” by Annette Wynne, DiscoverPoetry.com
“Little Robin Redbreast” by Anonymous | Poetry Foundation
“Little Tiger Cat” by Annette Wynne, DiscoverPoetry.com
“Lost City Cat” by Hy Sobiloff, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Macavity: The Mystery Cat” by T S Eliot, All Poetry
“Magnificat. Brave Cat at Snifter Fishbowl” by George Starbuck | Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Milk for the Cat” by Harold Monro, DiscoverPoetry.com
“Mistaken Cats” by Frederick Bock, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Muier” by William Carlos Williams | Poetry Foundation
“My Cat Jack” by Hunt Hawkins, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Myself with Cats” by Henri Cole, Poetry Foundation
N-O
“The Naming of Cats”” by T. S. Eliot, (mustlovecats.net)
“Night of Cats and Fathers” by David Cornel De Jong | Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Night Cats at the Grain Elevator” by Dennis Held, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes” by Thomas Gray, Poetry Foundation
“An Old Cat’s Dying Soliloquy“, by Anna Seward, The Daily Animal Poem
“Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T.S. Eliot, Academy of American Poets
“An Old Woman’s Words to Her Young Cat” by Carol Hall, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The Orange Cat” by Alicia Ostriker, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” by Edward Lear, Poetry Foundation
P-R
“Pangur Bán” by Anonymous, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“The Panther” by Rainer Maria Rilke (blackcatpoems.com)
“Panther in Louisiana” by Isaac McLellan (blackcatpoems.com)
“The Perfect Mother” by Susan Griffin, Poetry Foundation
Poem (“As the cat…”) by William Carlos Williams, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Quick! quick! …” by Anonymous | Poetry Foundation
“The Retired Cat” by William Cowper – All Poetry
S-T
“She sights a Bird—she chuckles” by Emily Dickinson, All Poetry
“Sad Memories” by C. S. Calverley, DiscoverPoetry.com
“Sonnet to a Cat” by John Keats, DiscoverPoetry.com
“Stray Cat” by Francis Witham, DiscoverPoetry.com
“Techno Cat” by Betsy Franco, Poetry Foundation
““The three little kittens, they lost their mittens“, Poetry Foundation
“Tigger” by Jack Peachum (blackcatpoems.com)
“Tip’s Kitten” by Edith Matilda Thomas (blackcatpoems.com)
“To a Cat” by John Keats, (mustlovecats.net)
“To a Cat” by Algernon Charles Swinburne, Poetry Foundation
“To a Cat Which Had Killed a Favorite Bird” by Agathias (blackcatpoems.com)
“To My Five New Kittens” by C. W. Shirley Brooks, DiscoverPoetry.com
“Tom Jones My Tom Cat” by Hy Sobiloff, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
U-Z
“The White Kitten” by Anonymous, DiscoverPoetry.com
“Who Am I?” by Alastair Reid, Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
“Wildcat” by Isaac McLellan (blackcatpoems.com)
“Window of Time” by Patricia Walter (blackcatpoems.com)
“The Wise Dog” by Kahlil Gibran, Poetry Foundation
Send Skye Your Own Cat Poems
If you have any corrections or want to contribute a cat poem, send your thoughts here…
More Cat Culture
Wanna learn more about cats in history, music, movies, books and art? Start with “Cat Culture“.
Sources
Sources used on this website are either primary or secondary.
Primary sources are always preferable and have the most reliable information because they’re original and directly referenced.
Scientific abstracts and data are good examples of primary sources.
Secondary sources are weaker because they usually consist of opinions or articles that give no sources of their own.
However, sometimes they refer to primary sources.
When I use secondary sources, most are those with some authority, such as veterinarian or cat behaviorist books and articles.
List of Sources
9 Cat Poems for Cat People (bookriot.com)
“9 Haiku Poems from Deep-Thinking Cats” by Angie Bailey, November 11, 2013
“10 Classic Poems about Cats Everyone Should Read” – Interesting Literature
“16+ Cat Poems For Kids To Read” 🐈, Imagine Forest
Best cat poems and poetry (mustlovecats.net)
Cat Poems – Humorous (dennydavis.net)
Cat Poems – Modern Award-winning Cat Poetry, All Poetry
Poems about Cats and Kittens (blackcatpoems.com)
Poems, Poetry Foundation
Updated November 13, 2023