Gustafson, Courtney: Poets Square

The morning after Courtney Gustafson and moved with her partner into an old house in the Poets Square neighbourhood of Tucson, Arizona, she noticed hundreds of tiny pawprints all over her driveway. They were the first evidence of a colony of feral cats who would, in time, become part of her family, expand her world spectacularly, and help pierce a personal darkness she‘d wrestled with for much of her life. Beebs was the first cat to cross the threshold of their home, allowing himself to be petted in the kitchen. And then came so many others. There was Monkey, the hissing, dark-blotched calico, and Reverse Monkey, her timid, white-blotched opposite. There was Bubbles, enormous and sweet but prone to biting, who rescued Gustafson from loneliness, and serene, regal Dr Big Butt, who taught her all about grief. There were Sad Boy and Lola, the inseparable pair who made their way across the internet and into strangers‘ wedding vows. And there was Goldie, tiny, skinny, but completely unafraid: the King of Poets Square. Poets Square is a love letter to community, caretaking and kindness in the face of a broken system. Through the brutal, tender stories of the many cats she has saved (and those she couldn‘t), Gustafson navigates poverty, mental health, misogyny, and the search for stability. Above all, she explores the ways her encounters with feral cats have taught her what it might mean to be a good person, even while the world burns.