The Cat Boss

 What a vivid imagery of a “typical” cat and its owner! As a cats’ owner myself, I find nearly every line relatable. You managed to capture everything – cats’ hunting crazes, their hate towards water, the love they show for warm places and food, for their owners as well, and the bond they share with us. Maybe a little cliche but definitely true.

What I see as a minus in this poem is the visual form. At the first glance, it seems alright, but after a while, the mix of capitalized and non-capitalized lines started to feel jarring to me. Instances like:

“...Stolen comfort, he
Places himself in prime
Spot- ...“

where the capitalized verse-beginnings aren’t even beginnings of a sentence. It still could be alright if you kept consistent and capitalized the start of every verse of the poem.

The next thing is punctuation. Some authors don’t punctuate poems at all but you used punctuation here yet some is missing, for example a full stop at the end of the first stanza, or commas, for example here:

“to bob
into the kitchen
expecting.“

should be a comma before “expecting”.

And the last thing, a little nitpick:

“Places himself in prime
Spot- my chair
No longer
my chair. “

As much as I love this part, the verses’ construction seems a little odd to me, and “my chair” is repeated when it wouldn’t need to be. I’d write it as:

“Places himself

in prime spot –

my chair –
no longer mine.”

(Alternatively, you could use a comma after “spot”). – Now, every point of the stanza has its own verse – the fact that the cat places himself, – that it’s in a prime spot, – which is the narrator’s chair, –or rather, no longer their. Moreover, by replacing the second “my chair” by “mine”, you get an internal half-rhyme with “prime”.

What I liked maybe the most was the “purr-box” - what an adorable way to say it!

I hope my insights were helpful and not too harsh. Keep up the good job, and good luck with writing!

Merry Critmas!