If you want to connect to magic and wonder and strangeness in...

If you want to connect to magic and wonder and strangeness in the world, you could do worse than reading the poetry of Christopher Smart, who wrote mystical verse while locked in an insane asylum. Plus Smart really captures the magic and – for lack of a better word – spirituality of animals. The incredible Benjamin Britten set some of Smart’s poetry to music in “Rejoice in the Lamb” and it’s pretty much the best thing ever. I’ve been listening to it a lot, because my poor cat just died, and this is one of the best things about cats ever. “For I will consider my cat Jeoffrey… a cat surpassing in beauty.” I definitely was thinking about this music when I wrote about Berkeley the cat in All the Birds in the Sky. There’s some honest-to-god magic here.