1.

Whiteish greyish greenish pond water lies

On this warm winter day in which we stand

Two loves, not seen as such to others’ eyes

One holds the other’s leash with gentle hand

I breathe the air and I enjoy the smells

Though I know that you know them all the more

Each sniff, your nose discerns where scent’s source dwells

And further goods thereby you’d find in store

You look to me and ask if we can stay

There in the dirt and leaves we take repose

We wait and smell and see and hear the day

Ears tilt to bounding squirrels and noisy crows

These are the hours that fill our lucky bond

As man and dog, observing by the pond

                                  2.

Such love is in the snuggles when we wake

Our body heat defeating winter cold

The moaning breaths my rubbing has you make

This sleepy lump of fur I may behold

The way that after one endearing yawn

You snort and then roll over on your back

And over your soft belly I may fawn

As that thin fur I rub and flank I scratch

Contented now you roll back to your side

And then we lie as one a while more

I breathe your paws and butt and breath and hide

The scents of you that I do so adore

And all these loves redouble in your kiss

How could I ever want for more than this?

                                  3.

And there’s the mailbox that you like to smell

And there’s the house that has the flick’ring light

And there’s a sign which must have lately fell

And there’s the stream we drank from yesternight

Exploring suburb streets I would not know

If not for all these nightly walks of ours

Familiar routes initially we go

Then grow our mental map beneath these stars

As every night a farther venture calls

A cul de sac, a street, a forest trail

A breaking down of anxious lus’ry walls

A pause to chat, a faintly wagging tail

I thank you for this groundedness I’ve felt

This place was ne’er a place without your help

                                  4.

There was a time when I would not forget

The countless joys you brought me day to day

The sniffing out of treats hid ’round the house

The drives out to the park to run and play

The beauty of the sunlight on your face

The scattered piles of leaves in crisp new Fall

The kisses that you gave to my pinned hand

The world’s delight inside a tennis ball

So early on you made that boy complete

Rightfully took him with you when you went

The emptiness of better half removed

The pain of growing back from what was left

Always, his love for you will still be strong

After the good boys of summer have gone

                                  5.

To heal of course seems such a pleasant thing

It takes a second’s time to say the term

But having healed and having healing seen

A healed up wound is not so quickly earned

The growth they took from off your lovely paw

Is for your later good, but nonetheless

I’m sorry that you have to wear the cone

I’m sorry these short walks do not impress

In some weeks’ time we’ll venture out again

And long miles walk along your favorite route

Act will in joy find compliment within

Joy will in act find compliment without

This wound you heal forebears wound on my life

I love you though someday you’ll be a knife

                                  6.

A certain stance, a smile, a coy wag

I drop what I’m doing and come to you

Down on my hands and knees, head below yours

You lean in and give a cursory kiss

I kiss your shoulder and nuzzle your butt

You trot playfully off to the bedroom

I follow you and bend over the bed

I unbuckle my pants and show my butt

You give it thorough licks between the cheeks

And then you jab your claws against my thigh

I spin to face you and you grab again

You pull my hand beneath you and hump it

Your penis slides around inside my grip

I hold onto your knot and feel you pulse

                                  7.

A oneness while I read a yellow book

And at my side you dream of some grand chase

Paws scratching bedsheets softly as they twitch

Some gentle barks, a wildly twitching face

I lie ensnared in blankets round my legs

And likewise wrapped in words on pulpy page

And also I lay snuggled in your scruff

My temple buried in your shoulder blades

Here now, I follow two stories at once

In one, thirteen dwarves and a hobbit walk

The other you whisper in sleepy barks

Telling me of a fantastical run

This old book’s tale is good, but not the best:

Your doggy dream gives wholeness to this nest

                                  8.

A storm is brewing in the people’s minds

The type which makes the powers that be sweat cold

As we proclaim love comes in many kinds

And righteously demand what we are owed

No pseudoscience paper or debate

Can disillusion what one knows first hand

We aren’t the monsters that you so create

Our love does not deserve your fiery brand

What else but love in handjobs for pooches

What else but hate in the threats to expose

What else but love in mutual smooches

What else but hate in the laws you impose

For far too long we veiled our zooey pride

But now we see a changing of the tide

                                  9.

A silly thing it is to watch a dog

Attempt to bury bone in human hole

He pokes the tip around and round and round

And never quite can seem to score his goal

He humps and humps and humps and humps and humps

He mounts, dismounts, and mounts, dismounts again

Between the thighs his eager penis pumps

While trying to put pups in dog’s best friend

He barks to say it is the human’s fault

For of his own prowess there is no doubt

Their stature is the root of this result

Too tall for doggie legs which are more stout

But if the human shows their hole just right

The knot will soon be in the human tight

                                  10.

If when I try to kiss, you turn your head

If when I touch your sheath you do not care

Then if you’d like we can go walk instead

There’s joys in life that can be found elsewhere

If when I kiss, you deeply lick my eyes

If when I touch your sheath you hump my hand

Then I’ll infer what humping does imply

Some signals are not hard to understand

There are so many ways to tell me no

And just as many ways to tell me yes

Whichever choice with which you choose to go

Is with no doubt a choice that I’ll respect

A fundamental part of being zoo:

For us, the beast must have a good time too

                                  11.

Wisteria vines and pineapple stems

Little black claws and a spotted blue tongue

Cold river pebbles and grey sweater hems

Lithe little legs and soft fur thereamong

Tall granite rock faces washed in the rain

Straight little chompers that like to squeak toys

Folded up napkins with strawberry stains

Tugging on ropes with a play growling noise

Warm pumpkin pie topped with fluffy whipped cream

Top 40 music and sweet honey wines

Bubble gum pieces and puppy dog dreams

Kissing the human who visits sometimes

I bask in this new slobber on my face

A smaller breed’s a happy change of pace

                                  12.

Two feet of snow have melted into mud

Four snow-white feet have snow-black feet become

The icy seal on scents today undone

Six footfalls amble on with squelch and thud

Cold cases in this park are now back on

Unburied branch is sniffed from every side

A mother with a stroller passes by

Investigation of the branch goes on

And when this branch has been sniffed all throughout

Six footfalls will inch forward to the next

And that next branch, to one distinct from last

Will in its own time too be figured out

Two old men, each the elder in some way

Skulk in the shadowy seconds today

                                  13.

Ten thousand traps will tempt me from this zen

Ten thousand arguments flaunt easy hooks

Those trolls assuming privilege of a friend

We all should go and read a fucking book

A better life you show me every day

Though tempt me not to look to left nor right

Where countless quibbles wait one step astray

When we in fact may stay above each fight

A shared disinterest in the social apps

A shared engagement with the woods outside

Us both bemoaning when a camera snaps

Us both delighted to go for a drive

A day in airplane mode will do one fine

The most part of the world is still offline

                                  14.

Do not humor them, they with no interest:

They who would not know love if it licked them;

They who feign they cannot see no or yes;

They who see an animal as an “it”;

They who have turned the word science to faith

And strike down curiosity—science—

If it makes them feel they may have been wrong

Or if the truth might be too arousing.

They must not ponder a dog has a knot,

Horses slap, and dolphins will make sex toys.

They must feel they have quite an ownership—

Dragon hoard-esque—over others’ pleasures.

Instead, humor a dog with a long walk,

A cat with string, and horses with carrots.

                                  15.

Mosquitoes buzz and sting this evening warm

Here in this clearing where we often sit

I slump upon a log, bark years now shorn

As you engage in chewing on a stick

It feels like summer long at last is here

The clinging winter’s spiteful cold drove off

The snarling ice at foot now cool earth

This late orange sun still clinging up aloft

So many others crowd the paths today

A frank departure from when winter held

When we, and only we, made bold foray

Through warding frosts, in winter jackets shelled

Our ventures take us through not space alone

But time as well, each season staked our own

                                  16.

An errand often is a mundane chore

A boring thing which needs be done again

Though quite the opposite becomes the case

When I have chance to bring four legged friend

An overbrimming joy at coming with

Excitement to be riding in a car

A friendly polite wag to the cashier

Rewarded with a dog treat from their jar

Would that the world were more a friendly place

To those whose bodies thick with fur are clad

An hour with a canine at my side

Will always be an hour better had

Were costumes so advanced no dog would show

I’d take you with me everywhere I go