Post by Ken_Nye on Mar 24, 2008 13:30:54 GMT -5
Explanation: I am in the process of puttiing together a small book of dog poems, aimed most specifically for people or families who have recently lost a dog. This piece is tentatively the last piece in the book.If anyone is interested in seeing a copy of the manuscript with dedication and introduction and poems, lelt me know. I'll e-mail it to you.
Ken
I.
I remember sitting at the dinner table
when I was about ten,
being told by my father,
"You aren't
leaving the table until all of the casserole on your plate is gone."
Everyone else had left,
except Bonny,
my companion growing up,
sitting silently at my feet,
hidden by an oversized table cloth.
Well, the casserole was going, but it was a sticky business.
(I think my mother knew what we were up to,
but she was tired of the hassle
to get me to eat the casserole
so she played dumb.)
II.
Taffy, Ann's and my first family dog,
never really learned how to swim
because she hated being in any water
in which she couldn't touch bottom.
But when we spent time at the lake,
she loved to go out in the boat with me.
When she and I were out fishing one day,
I caught a perch
too small to keep,
so I threw it back into the lake.
A sea gull saw me throw the fish,
and came soaring over, hoping the fish
might still be close to the surface.
Tafffy had always enjoyed chasing the sea gulls off our beach,
but the brazenness of this gull really offended her.
Standing on the middle seat of the boat,
she started barking furiously
up at the sea gull, and as it glided over us
from one side of the boat to the other,
Taff went with it.
Still barking up at the sea gull,
she walked right off the boat into the lake
and sank like a rock.
(It was amazing how almost instantly
the loud barking stopped.)
After a few seconds she came to the surface,
plunging her front legs into the water
trying to stay afloat,
wide eyed with fright.
I grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her back into the boat.
But I must admit that I was laughing so hard,
I could barely see.
III.
Barney, our big male golden who loved the world
and everyone in it,
considered himself the pre-wash cycle
of our after-dinner clean-up.
He would stand next to the open dish washer
getting anything we'd missed.
One evening, I was rinsing and loading dishes
and Barney was pre-washing.
As he leaned in to get a tiny morsel left on a plate,
his collar caught one of the tines of the rack.
And as he backed out, the rack moved with him.
Thinking he was being attacked by the dishwasher
he broke for the far side of the kitchen,
filling the air with dishes, cups. glasses and silverware
from the rack still attached to his collar.
The whole thing took place in only seconds,
ending with Barney huddled
under the hanging jackets,
looking really pathetic
with a dish rack on his head.
But it was funny.
IV.
These three characters are gone now.
So, too, are Missy, Tessy, Gracie, Rosie and Ellie.
But I have them right here, inside of me.
They are part of me now.
Frankie and Cozy, my two companions who are ying on the floor
next to me as I sit at the computer,
will go outside in a minute to go woodsing
or to hang out down by the road,
hoping walkers will come by and they can greet them.
But they come to me whenf I call them.
So do all my dogs. here and gone.
They all come to me whenever I call them.
Ken
I.
I remember sitting at the dinner table
when I was about ten,
being told by my father,
"You aren't
leaving the table until all of the casserole on your plate is gone."
Everyone else had left,
except Bonny,
my companion growing up,
sitting silently at my feet,
hidden by an oversized table cloth.
Well, the casserole was going, but it was a sticky business.
(I think my mother knew what we were up to,
but she was tired of the hassle
to get me to eat the casserole
so she played dumb.)
II.
Taffy, Ann's and my first family dog,
never really learned how to swim
because she hated being in any water
in which she couldn't touch bottom.
But when we spent time at the lake,
she loved to go out in the boat with me.
When she and I were out fishing one day,
I caught a perch
too small to keep,
so I threw it back into the lake.
A sea gull saw me throw the fish,
and came soaring over, hoping the fish
might still be close to the surface.
Tafffy had always enjoyed chasing the sea gulls off our beach,
but the brazenness of this gull really offended her.
Standing on the middle seat of the boat,
she started barking furiously
up at the sea gull, and as it glided over us
from one side of the boat to the other,
Taff went with it.
Still barking up at the sea gull,
she walked right off the boat into the lake
and sank like a rock.
(It was amazing how almost instantly
the loud barking stopped.)
After a few seconds she came to the surface,
plunging her front legs into the water
trying to stay afloat,
wide eyed with fright.
I grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her back into the boat.
But I must admit that I was laughing so hard,
I could barely see.
III.
Barney, our big male golden who loved the world
and everyone in it,
considered himself the pre-wash cycle
of our after-dinner clean-up.
He would stand next to the open dish washer
getting anything we'd missed.
One evening, I was rinsing and loading dishes
and Barney was pre-washing.
As he leaned in to get a tiny morsel left on a plate,
his collar caught one of the tines of the rack.
And as he backed out, the rack moved with him.
Thinking he was being attacked by the dishwasher
he broke for the far side of the kitchen,
filling the air with dishes, cups. glasses and silverware
from the rack still attached to his collar.
The whole thing took place in only seconds,
ending with Barney huddled
under the hanging jackets,
looking really pathetic
with a dish rack on his head.
But it was funny.
IV.
These three characters are gone now.
So, too, are Missy, Tessy, Gracie, Rosie and Ellie.
But I have them right here, inside of me.
They are part of me now.
Frankie and Cozy, my two companions who are ying on the floor
next to me as I sit at the computer,
will go outside in a minute to go woodsing
or to hang out down by the road,
hoping walkers will come by and they can greet them.
But they come to me whenf I call them.
So do all my dogs. here and gone.
They all come to me whenever I call them.
