Flame, Glass and Ink are Poems, essays, and reading notes by Stefania Joori Suh

Tag: cats

  • Saturday, September 26, 2026 – Saturday Reading of ā€œVeroneseā€™s Dogsā€ by Thomas W. Laqueur, published in The Public Domain Review on September 16, 2026

    The Feast in the House of Levi (1573) from Wikepedia

    When Odysseus returned home after twenty years of war and wandering, the first to recognize him was not his virtuous wife Penelope. It was Argos, his faithful hound, who greeted him and breathed his last after seeing his master once more. In Homerā€™s time, too, dogs must have been manā€™s best friend: loyal, devoted, and artless. So, itā€™s not new that dogs deserved recognition in art over time. Paolo Veronese, a Renaissance painter, joined this tradition by making dogs mirrors of human emotions and behaviors through their unspoken gaze.Ā 

    Thomas W. Laqueurā€™s ā€œVeroneseā€™s Dogsā€ tells us what dogs represent in Paolo Veroneseā€™s paintings, most of which depict colossal religious and moral scenes. Because the essay is excerpted and adapted from Laqueurā€™s own book, The Dogā€™s Gaze, this reading is like hearing the authorā€™s mind directly, without another criticā€™s interpretation. Among the paintings he discusses, I am drawn to Veroneseā€™s dogs as silent witnesses to the manifold human characteristics revealed when people are placed in moral quandaries. One that lingers in my mind is The Feast in the House of Levi. The scene shows Jesus at the center of a ballyhoo of raw human expression. Around him, the figures appear exaggeratedly excited and excessively vociferous: dubious-looking clerics and a copious assembly of porcelain-skinned characters displaying their wealth. Only Jesus and the dogs retain a serene, dignified composure, as if they were looking upon all human acts without interfering. Christ and the beasts. But who, then, appears impulsively theatrical, gesturing grandly, while the dogs look almost divine?

    But not everyone was pleased with Veroneseā€™s artistic freedom, especially inĀ The Feast in the House of Levi, so the Inquisition called him to replace the dogs with figures such as Maria Magdalena. But why on earth would she be in the Feast, even if she wasnā€™t there? But Veronese was braver than Galileo. Instead of removing his beloved canines, he added the inscription ā€œLevi made the Lord a Great Feastā€ (Luke 5:29), and the painting becameĀ The Feast in the House of Levi. His wit saved the painting from a flaming stake.

    Animals do not speak human language. My cats do not speak, but they understand Korean and English. How I know is no mystery: they look happy when I come in from outside, bunting their little heads against my legs and looking up at me with their beautiful emerald and amber eyes. And thatā€™s not all. When I tell them, ā€œI love you,ā€ they snuggle their soft, furry bodies into my arms, and I know they know. Veronese knew.

  • Queenā€™s cats

    Share a photo of your pet and tell us one thing that makes them uniquely them.

    Camile (L) and Toro (R) on their look out from Queenā€™s Castle

    My cats think they are human. They like HƤagen-Dazs ice cream and want to lounge in the living room with me, let alone jump on my bed when I say good night each night. Did I also mention that theyā€™re bilingual?

    Toro in Toga channeling into an ancient Roman aristocrat

    Toro, the 6-year-old tabby, is a little tiger who wants to help me when I work from home, always insisting on typing emails and notes on my work laptop, which need my spellcheck. He takes breaks and lunch with me, so I am never alone at home. And Toroā€™s being human doesnā€™t stop there. He knows when my brother calls because he always sits next to me, his little furry body resting on my side.

    Camilleā€™s magic eyes

    Camille, the 4-year-old black cat, is a little black panther who looks just like Gigi from Kikiā€™s Delivery Service. Although Camille speaks no Korean, he understands when I tell him my secret wishes and how grateful I am that he lives with me because I am lucky to live with such an adorable black cat.

    Toro as my assistant

    Whoever says cats are naturally independent and feral has not seen Toro and Camille. They are very affectionate and loving. I see their spirits in amber and emerald eyes. I feel their little hearts on my chest and at my feet.

    And they slowly blink their big eyes and bunt their little heads when I say, ā€œI love you so much in every universe.ā€

  • šŸ¾ Understanding Cats as Mirrors of My Soul

    They say pets reflect the personalities of those who care for them. The way they respond to others and express their feelings seems to mirror how theyā€™re treated at homeā€”or perhaps how their owners reveal the rawness of human emotion, unfiltered and instinctive.

    My two cats, Toro and Camille, mirror my ego and superego, respectively. Toro is a sensitive soul, easily shaken by the outside world and never shy about his emotions, almost like a little human. Camille, in contrast, is calm and observant. He watches me in silence, as though he sees through to the very center of me. At times, I think of Toro as the General Cat from Catā€™s Eye, and Camille as Jiji from Kikiā€™s Delivery Service.

    Sometimes, I wonder if they are the little brother and sister who were never bornā€”that they somehow returned in fur and paws to be near meā€¦ and, strangely, near my mother, who once chose not to bring them into the world.

    Whenever they curl beside me, their small hearts pulsing gently against mine, I feel the wonder of life swell within meā€”a quiet awe at its vividness, like a tide of feeling stirred with reverence for the mystery of creation, and the One who makes all things beautiful.

    Rudyard Kipling once said that a cat walks by himself. But perhaps he never met mine.

    Whatever happens, they are my familiarsā€”silent witnesses and gentle companions, walking beside me through this strange and lovely journey of life.

  • Living with a Ghost: Lessons from Loneliness

    Iā€™ve been living with a ghost since I was a child. She doesnā€™t speak, but sometimes I hear her in the rain tapping on the windows or in the whisper of leaves rustling in the wind. When I gaze at the stars at night, she leans in and murmurs, You are alone. You are meant to be alone.

    Loneliness ā€” that is her name. And she is the only one who has stayed with me all this time. I suspect she doesnā€™t like it when I make friends or feel happy. Thatā€™s when I stop listening to her and try to cast her out, like an evil spirit haunting me. But she seems to like my cats, Toro and Camille. Perhaps itā€™s because cats, too, are solitary and spiritual creatures.

    Come to think of it, some people donā€™t like cats ā€” as if thereā€™s virtue in disliking them. But many writers have lived with feline companions. Edgar Allan Poe once said his cat, Catterina, was his muse. Lucy Maud Montgomery was also a devoted cat lover.

    Loneliness doesnā€™t have to be your enemy. If you get to know her, she can help you notice the quiet details of life that others overlook or take for granted. In those everyday little things, you may find beauty ā€” and a quiet joy in simply being alive to witness them.

    Ready to say hello to loneliness?

  • I love you, my dear Camille

    My Camille is unwell now. He eats, drinks, and defecates, but I know thereā€™s something wrong with his demeanor, mood, and aura. No, itā€™s not a hyped reaction from an overly protective spinster guardian, but I ohknow. It worries me to death; it pains me to no end. I am so thankful for his little heart pumping beneath his sleek, straight black fur, and on the other hand, I inwardly recoil in fear that what if it begins to slow and then stop? 

    I have noticed that when I pet Camille, he secretes a fluid with a noticeable smell, which isnā€™t terrible. I thought it was his way of expressing content when petted, and my research shows itā€™s partly true. Partly it is due to his anal gland charge, which worries me. So, I think maybe itā€™s a complication of the anal glands and other organ infections, such as liver or urinary. 

    And it plunges me so low into the abyss of grief, echoed in guilt for Camilleā€™s condition because I have not been so loving or patient with Camilleā€™s urge to play. He tends to eat frequently, almost every 10 minutes or so. Even though I always ensure my catsā€™ bowls are full of dry food with water, Camille prefers wet food. He eats small but many times. It might indicate diabetic symptoms. I feel like a terrible guardian, and more terrible is losing him – which is unthinkable! Let present fears less than horrible imaginings! 

    I just made an appointment with a vet to check him this Saturday. I hope Camille is not seriously ill. 

  • Cat who thinks himself

    Toro thinks

    My cat thinks

    Not that he is a cat.

    But hey! Who knows?

    He is a human who never

    got to see the sun of life

    but returned from the other

    Not drinking from the Lethe

    wearing a cat-skin in tabby 

    to live with his family, poor

    but rich with love and care.

    The cat knows the secrets

    of life and the life beyond, 

    and this universe he lives

    he knows itā€™s one of many

    he has seen in his catā€™s eyes

    he has traveled in paws. 

    No wonder he is so beautiful.