Cats love us, in their own ways. Sometimes that means snuggles and purring. Other times it means digging their claws into your thighs so you can’t stand up, no matter how badly you need to use the bathroom. But the love of a good cat is a truly unique and special thing. It is a gift, as are these love poems from cats, brought from author and cat father Francesco Marciuliano.

Oh. It’s You. is his latest collection of love poems by cats, filled with the moving emotions of cats not remembering our names, watching the ghosts in our houses and not telling them when is a good time to kill us, expressing their love by sitting on our face, and putting their scent on us to remind all the other cats that they are cray-cray and the other cats would be wise to stay away from their humans.

Whether they are lamenting with us that people suck or watching us like we are idiots on their favorite reality show, cats have a special love for us, especially when we feed them. They may destroy our furniture and leave cat hair on the pizza and not get out of the way when we make the bed, but we love them.

And one day, when they’re no longer around, when we are sad that they are gone, we will stop and remember all the special things they did. How they made us laugh. How they made us cry. How they made us buy them cat beds over and over until they would finally use one. And then we will realize that they really are still with us, and we go check the pantry to find them eating the roast chicken ramen packages. Again.

Cats are amazing companions, and while we love them as best we can, we are not worthy of them. (They would agree with this.) But they put up with us anyway, and they share their love with us in funny and frustrating and wonderful ways. Oh. It’s You. is a celebration of all the ways cats love us, talk to us, hide from us, destroy our stuff, and make us feel alive. Cat lovers will appreciate the beautiful photos and the honest sentiments of the poetry. A relationship with a cat is a unique experience, but author Francesco Marciuliano has put the experience into poetry, so we can share it with others.

I’ve been a fan of Marciuliano’s cat books for many years now, and Oh. It’s You. is another fun and funny compilation of all the reasons we love cats and are going gray prematurely. He gets cats. He gets cat owners. And now we can get his love poems by cats and share them with all the cat owners. Then when we take the book home and set it on the table, our cats can come over and admire it. And then knock it to the floor.

Egalleys for Oh. It’s You. were provided by Chronicle Books through Edelweiss, with many thanks.