Poems

A hoof, a paw, a beak, a maw,

A trip to the park to run, to bark,

To wrestle and fetch and swim and then

To home to hump, to play, to jump,

To talk and howl and share these breaths

Between dog and human as equals, not pets

A meow, a stroke, a stretch, a purr,

A caw, a treat,

A neigh, a trot,

A love in heat

A love when not

And loving to walk with a four legged lover

And loving to listen, to cherish each other

And to lovers here

And to lovers gone

To pay forward kindness:

To carry love on;

To feeling and knowing

And loving the things that only we creatures do

They don’t understand, but let them to them

To thine own self be zoo

Dog walks nose-down through the dandelions,

Brushing his face against the spreading of life.

We lie down on the grass

And the ants and the other bugs flock to us;

We snap and brush at them

As around us a hot dandelion snow falls and rises,

Considering its thoughts on the ground.

Eventually the dog rolls over for a belly rub

And after getting one

We go back inside.