Bark, Bark, Bark
Whose dog are you? Don’t
come near me, my dogness
wells up, I’m out of control this time
I bite you good right on the butt
and hold you down on the street.
What did I know about you, nothing
from out of the blue, endless road
woods. Woof. You won’t come back here
again – not a chance. I want to
chew your neck, you sexy dog.
Spots, like a calf, heavy on the hoof
but four pawed. If you prance that way
for long I’ll bite you once more, for good –
I am dog bite because I have to, you taste
so good I have to, I can’t resist. Dog bone
chew you up. Rub my belly.
Then the moon. Run away, quickly. Run.
Bow wow – bow wow.
Then the moon and wind.
Parts Unknown
I lie around like old paint in winter, sniff
then wag, my fleas are my kingdom, red, digging
my gods, my skin, my memory, the end
for I am scruffy, not wanting much tho’
you will be in my way. I walk around
you, licking my lips, tail high in heat, this
gentleness of dog is not my style come quick
like calling me, like holding a leash, dogness.
I am. What was a cherry in my mouth.
If you would take a bite, just draw some blood
pull me down, straddle me with your teeth then
I’d know what was on your mind, then I’d know.
Even Dog, Odd Dog
I have your ear in my mouth, can’t let go
of your face, fit for this survival
I lick your eyes, nozzle your neck who rubbed you the wrong way
held you beneath me and shouted my barks
in a crescendo? I held you in my paws, laughing
and crying at the same time, I a dog in my whispers
that long run home over the ridge and then some
what of, what of my dog heart, my dog heat
a measure of what we are, were, down dog
up, zensitive, live, in a moment of what was –
then I settled down, lay down, go to my corner
of the world: barking, biting, drag you down
to the bottom of the world, then some more
in the bottom of the world, you and me, barking. Say so.
My work appears in Offcourse, The Southern Poetry Review, The Little Magazine, Agni, Sundog, and Poems & Plays. I lived in Albany for four years, and now reside in rural Cambridge, NY, and teach English part-time at both UAlbany and RPI.