Twenty things about my dogs
1.
Among thirteen noisy rooms,
the only moving things
were the tails of my dogs.
2.
I was of two minds,
like a chair
on which there are two dogs.
3.
My dogs spun in the garden.
They were a small part of the pantomime.
4.
A man and a woman
are one.
A man and a woman and their child
are one.
A man and a woman, their child and a dog
are one.
A man and a woman, their child and two dogs
are one.
A man and a woman, their child with two dogs
are outnumbered.
5.
I do not know which to prefer—
the beauty of the snoring
or the beauty of the stare,
the dog mid-sprint
or just after.
6.
Muddy paw prints
filled the grey hallway
with barbaric calligraphy.
The mood of my dog
traced an inscrutable route
across the floor.
7.
O thin men of reason,
your golden things rust.
My dog only knows
the smell of rain,
the weight of a hand,
the hinge of a door—
and calls this enough.
8.
I know noble accents
and lucid, inescapable rhythms;
but I know, too,
that my dogs
are involved
in what I know.
9.
When the dogs flew out of sight,
it marked the edge
of one of many circles.
10.
At the sight of dogs
running in even weather,
even the cats
would cry out sharply.
11.
I rode
in a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced me,
as I mistook
the shadow of my dog
for a wolf.
12.
The river is moving.
The dogs must be running.
13
It was evening all afternoon.
It was raining
and it was going to rain.
My dog
slept on my feet,
and slept,
and slept.
14.
My dog does not grieve yesterday.
He has buried it
in the garden
with the other things
he no longer needs.
15.
The vet said “better”
My dog said nothing.
She had known this
all along.
16.
In the hour before dawn
when the mind turns on itself
my dog relocates
from his bed
to my chest.
He has his reasons.
17.
A door.
Always, the door.
My dogs have made a religion
of my returning.
18.
Other men collect
silence, distance, regret.
I collect
the specific weight
of a sleeping dog
against my leg.
19.
She does not know my name.
She knows my footstep
from forty yards.
This is better.
20.
I asked the dog
what she thought of mortality.
She sneezed,
scratched her ear,
and walked into the garden
to eat grass.
amandla
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theartofmadeline
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