August 22, 1920

Ray Bradbury (August 22, 1920 to June 5, 2012) is blurbed thusly by google books:

....born in Waukegan, Illinois ..... At the age of fifteen, he started submitting short stories to national magazines. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 600 stories, poems, essays, plays, films, television plays, radio, music, and comic books. His books include The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Bradbury Speaks. He won numerous awards for his works including a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1977, the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation. He wrote the screen play for John Huston's classic film adaptation of Moby Dick, and was nominated for an Academy Award. He adapted 65 of his stories for television's The Ray Bradbury Theater, and won an Emmy for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree. The film The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit was written by Ray Bradbury and was based on his story The Magic White Suit. He was the idea consultant and wrote the basic scenario for the United States pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair, as well as being an imagineer for Walt Disney Enterprises, where he designed the Spaceship Earth exhibition at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center. He died after a long illness on June 5, 2012 at the age of 91.


We all think we know who Bradbury is, but I didn't know all the stuff above. Or that he published a book of poetry: Death Has Lost Its Charm for Me (1987). 

And of multiple poems within, about cats, we excerpt, "My cat has swallowed a bumblebee."


My cat has swallowed a bumblebee
He sounds like a golden summer hive
Each time he purrs, the air's alive.
His tuna breath is a symphony
From a honeycomb where Vivaldi bees
Weave a tapestry that is molten gold.
....


So this thumbnail photo is not surprising.