Kiddo Remembers
When the grandkits ask me Why?
I tell ‘em how I’d watched the blue jays,
envied them their ability to fly,
envied them their winged escape,
and how that October afternoon
when chance offered me a paw,
a ride in the dirigible balloon,
I took it. Should’ve seen this cat soar!
Weren’t you scared, Grandpa Trent?
Hell no! I say. Don’t mention the howlin’,
bein’ like a squirrel in a cage, extent
of my mewlin’, my hissin’, my yowlin’.
Don’t mention winch, nor burlap sack,
how seas were wild and waves whipped,
how the engines clogged and clacked
with sand. The morse code, nor rescue ship.
Tell ‘em instead of days at Gimbel’s store,
how it’s better to fail than never try.
Of soft cushions. Photographers. Reward.
That sometimes strays get lucky. Aim high.
I tell ‘em how I’d watched the blue jays,
envied them their ability to fly,
envied them their winged escape,
and how that October afternoon
when chance offered me a paw,
a ride in the dirigible balloon,
I took it. Should’ve seen this cat soar!
Weren’t you scared, Grandpa Trent?
Hell no! I say. Don’t mention the howlin’,
bein’ like a squirrel in a cage, extent
of my mewlin’, my hissin’, my yowlin’.
Don’t mention winch, nor burlap sack,
how seas were wild and waves whipped,
how the engines clogged and clacked
with sand. The morse code, nor rescue ship.
Tell ‘em instead of days at Gimbel’s store,
how it’s better to fail than never try.
Of soft cushions. Photographers. Reward.
That sometimes strays get lucky. Aim high.
On 15th October 1910 the dirigible balloon ‘America’ took off from Atlantic City attempting to make the first trans-Atlantic flight. There was a cat called Kiddo on board. The flight failed and the crew and cat were rescued. Later Kiddo’s name was changed to Trent after the British ship that had saved them. He became a celebrity cat.
The first known successful air crossing of the Atlantic by a cat came in 1919, and was made by a British kitten called Wopsie (later renamed Jazz) who stowed away on the R34 airship.
This poem is copyright (©) Emma Purshouse 2026
About the Writer
Emma Purshouse
Emma Purshouse is a writer and performance poet. She writes for both children and adults. Her children's poetry collection 'I Once Knew a Poem Who Wore a Hat' is published by Fair Acre Press and won the poetry section of the Rubery Book Award in 2016.
