HOW I GOT MY DOG TO BELIEVE IN GOD

My dog, her name is Melba
Had 19 puppies
7 and 6 and 6. All
Of them survived until
I hit them in the head with a hammer
Which was hard

I did this in front of Melba
Who seemed bothered
A bit
And snarled once or twice
Then we went into the back yard
And I buried Melba’s puppies
In front of her
With great ceremony. When
She tried to lick her crotch
I slapped her on the butt
No, Melba, no
This is important, I said

After a time Melba grew to expect the killing of her pups

When she had her fourth litter
A strangely small one
Of two
She bit them in the heads
And carried them into the back yard
Where we had interred the other pups
And dug a hole and buried them

She sits now
At night
And howls
By their graves
To the stars
To the sky
And eats her kibble
In the house
A bit dazed, hungover

Melba has grown old now
And hobbles and wobbles

A tumor here

A tumor there

And she has dug a large hole
In the back yard

She looks at me when
I come to stand beside her
And looks at the graves
And the grave to be
And looks at me
And howls
At the stars
At the sky

Blanche

She had a mouthful of raw hamburger
and keeled over
like a toy she continued
to roll
until her legs pointed up

I got her straightened up.
There ya go
old girl.
18 and one half years she is
walking, barking
eating from Australia to Oregon

She's walking now
there, drinking water
and walking
days become scrunched up
mouths, waiting
not waiting

Sunday, January 1, 2006

Headed off to a very special Open Mike at the Wild Goose. Besides being the first of the year, Jeff Stanley (and of course Denise) is in town from Australia and Moe Yess, who hasn't been to the gig in months, will be there for a reunion of the Yess Stanley Experience. Too good. Happy New Year to all of us.