I had to figure out a way to get a picture of my beloved pups up on this site so I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite dog poems and that would justify it. The first one is by Mark Doty, Golden Retrievals. Mark is one of my favorite poets, not only for his poetry but for who he is and his approach to poetry. I saw him a couple of years ago at the Dodge Poetry Festival (see links for info and more on this later) and heard him speak and read. His workshop was packed and he was so fun and real. Another poem I love of his is called Fish R Us and is in his book SOURCE. You can find it in Poems I Love. Okay, here’s the poem with pictures of my pups, Yoshi (the foxy one) and Ria (the Elizabeth Taylor lookalike). Yoshi’s a Shiba-Inu, the national dog of Japan…he licks himself like a cat, loves fishy food, and freaks out at even the thought of pain. He’s no samurai warrior but he is cute as a bug and a real sweetheart. Ria’s a bit bossy. It’s her nature to herd whatever she thinks is her flock and my husband and Yoshi and I qualify. She worries a lot about us and eats bits of paper out of the trash when we’re gone. They’re both eight and healthy as can be. So here’s to the canines and those who loves ‘em…

Yoshi & Ria at the beach. Just youngsters here
but they’re still lookin’ good at 8 years old.

MARK DOTY

Golden Retrievals

Fetch? Balls and sticks capture my attention
seconds at a time. Catch? I don’t think so.
Bunny, tumbling leaf, a squirrel who’s – oh
joy – actually scared. Sniff the wind, then

I’m off again: muck, pond, ditch, residue
of any thrillingly dead thing. And you?
Either you’re sunk in the past, half our walk,
thinking of what you never can bring back,

or else you’re off in some fog concerning
– tomorrow, is that what you call it? My work:
to unsnare time’s warp (and woof!), retrieving
my haze-headed friend, you. This shining bark

a Zen-master’s bronzy gong, calls you here,
entirely now: bow-wow, bow-wow, bow-wow.

Here’s another cute dog poem from the anthology Unleashed: Poems by Writers’ Dogs Edited by Amy Hempel and Jim Shepard.

JIM SHEPARD

Love Song of Audrey

The door, friends, will not
Open. My kidneys urge
The tedious quotidian.
I have measured out my life
With quiet whines.

I grow old . . . I grow old . . .
In endless dogs’ manure I’ll have rolled.

No! I am not Ch. Dandie Dinsmore,
Nor was meant to be;
Just a beta dog, one that will do
To swell a pack, start a fight or two
Advise the alpha, deferential,
Glad to be of use,
A rear-sniffer, meticulous,
Politic, cautious, a bit obtuse.

Shall I drink from the toilet? Do I dare steal from the plate?
I shall sleep upon their bed, on those nights they return late.
I shall steal away his slipper, then steal away its mate.