/an/ - Animals & Nature

Dear perfect stranger,
I am Otto. A feral cat. Born in a Brooklyn alley. Two years old, neutered male. Full of love with no place to put it. But I will give my love to perfect strangers. Will you love me back?

A couple of days ago I found a toy rat, set him up on a table and enclosed him in a heart shaped frame. I superimposed him over a series of videos I found of strangers singing a song from the musical Rent. I posted the video to an online dating service. Nobody responded to my online video of the rat. It made me feel so compressed.

I knew I needed to put my own face on the internet if I ever wanted to truly connect with a stranger. One-on-One. So this is why I'm putting this valentine on line. Are we connecting?

Walter Benjamin wrote: The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope. I don't know what he means. But the sentiment feels me with a lovely combination of romantic abandon and dread. Balki Bartokomous, the great thinker from Mypos, said if everyone knew how to herd sheep there would be no one left to write poetry.

I invite perfect strangers to join me in this pur-pur-perfect song. Use a computer to superimpose your head over that of Bronson Pinchot. And together we will stand on the wings of a shared dream.