Another Dog Poem!

Letting the Dog In

by Emily Ruppel


Whereas the cat has found her way

along the low roof and through

– a quick and weightless leap –

the open window of the master

room, the dog croons wearily to

an implacable moon, fastened

as he is by gravity and obedience

to the big oak in the midnight yard.



Rain falls faster, fuller, the master

still at large come one a.m. I’m curling

my tongue round the pads of my paws,

attenuating their wetness in

the warmth of the guttering fire.



I hear you, yes, and feel the surge

of what must be pity—a broad,

ambiguous heave of it. Less for you,

perhaps, than for your dimly

imagined ancestors, that they

trustingly and with such buoyance

year after vanishing year made

the selections they did.



This poem was first published in the 2015 God and Nature Magazine, a publication of the American Scientific Affiliation.

Related reading:  A Poem About Dog Sledding; Mickey Blue Eyes

Robert Frost reflects on Canis Major

CANIS MAJOR

The great Overdog,
That heavenly beast
With a star in one eye,
Gives a leap in the east.
He dances upright
All the way to the west,
And never once drops
On his forefeet to rest.
I'm a poor underdog,
But to-night I will bark
With the great Overdog
That romps through the dark.


Robert Frost, 1928


 

Dog Poem by Miriam Parrish

A Spot of Sunlight, Please


Lend me a patch of sunlight, please,
Oh, lend me a patch of gold.
Lend me a spot
Where the sunlight’s hot,
When times and days grow cold.


Oh, keep it there when the sun hangs up
In the middle of sky
Save me a spot
Where the sunlight’s hot,
And the rest of my life passes by.


Leave it there, for a poor old dog,
For a friend whose youth is passed,
Show him a spot
Where the sunlight’s hot,
And a bit of warmth will last.


And down will I lay;
Nor will I bark or bay.
“Till the life in my bones is passed;
Yes, the life in my bones is passed.”


--Miriam Parrish


Related reading:  Topaz

Topaz the Hunter

Here is another poem by the talented young poet, Miriam Parrish.  The first of Miriam's poems to appear at STUDENTS PUBLISH HERE! was co-authored with Madeline Smith and titled "The Petty Slight."


Hopeless Hunt

“Topaz, my pup, small and slim,
What is it you want to win?”

“I am swift, lithe, bold, and smart
I’ll catch a squirrel: I know the art.”

“Squirrels above use twig and bough.
But you cannot, and even now
The squirrels bound overhead quite free!
Alas, you simply will not see!"

“Just watch! Such little faith have you.
I’ll catch a squirrel and slay it, too.”


--Miriam Parrish

Ed Pacht Captures Mickey Blue Eyes

Mickey Blue Eyes is an astoundingly beautiful and personable female husky who obviously owns the novelist K. Spirito and accompanies her and her husband to many of their public presentations. On December 10, 2007, K Spirito was reading from her novels at the Conway Library. Mickey Blue Eyes was watching as passages about a dog were read. In his poem My Party, Ed Pacht captures the dog's evident excitement.

My Party
Ed Pacht

She's reading about a dog.
I'm a dog.
Look at me.
It's my party.
Isn't it?
Isn't it?
All those people -
they see me -
why not pet me?
It's my party.
Isn't it?
Isn't it?
Isn't it?

This poem comes from Ed's chapbook titled Among the Bards, copyright 2008.

Available from
Ed Pacht
223 Wyandotte Falls
Rochester NH 03867
$5.00 from Ed or $6.00 USA postpaid or in shops.