The Nature Of The Beast

[Dennee]

I was trying to decide which one to post, but Timothy's poem about his dog inspired me to post this one.

Three dogs--a brown, a black, a white--

consecutive canines,

all loved so

that I thought I could never love another.

But love is like that.

It sneaks in the window

even when you know you've closed the door.

And thank God!

And thank Dog.

You know you felt that way about your children--

as if you could never love another

more than the baby you held in your arms,

whose soft sweet-smelling head seemed to be ever so subtly

molding itself to your shoulder.

But of course you were washed

with the same swell of emotions when you held the next one.

Yet dogs are much less complicated than children;

and their love is unconditional,

the way we wish ours were.

But then,

that is the difference

between us and God and dogs.

© Denise Thompson, 2009

[Mazrocon]

I was trying to decide which one to post, but Timothy's poem about his dog inspired me to post this one.

Three dogs--a brown, a black, a white--

consecutive canines,

all loved so

that I thought I could never love another.

But love is like that.

It sneaks in the window

even when you know you've closed the door.

And thank God!

And thank Dog.

You know you felt that way about your children--

as if you could never love another

more than the baby you held in your arms,

whose soft sweet-smelling head seemed to be ever so subtly

molding itself to your shoulder.

But of course you were washed

with the same swell of emotions when you held the next one.

Yet dogs are much less complicated than children;

and their love is unconditional,

the way we wish ours were.

But then,

that is the difference

between us and God and dogs.

© Denise Thompson, 2009

It's interesting, i'm not sure what God has to do with dogs though. I've never been able to make a poem sound good without rhyme but yours doesn't seem to need it.

"And thank God!

And thank Dog."

This part throws me off though, what does it even mean? It seems really strange to me to rhyme "god" with "dog".

"whose soft sweet-smelling head seemed to be ever so subtly

molding itself to your shoulder.

But of course you were washed

with the same swell of emotions when you held the next one."

The above verse is the best part of the poem

Out of curiousity are you specifically talking about pupppies or small dogs?

It's some nice work! maybe you could make it more immersive if you mentioned more specific details about the dogs instead of just there color. Like their fur, is it soft or rough? their facial expressions etc. etc.

Keep writing!

~TIMOTHY~

[Dennee]

It's interesting, i'm not sure what God has to do with dogs though. I've never been able to make a poem sound good without rhyme but yours doesn't seem to need it.

"And thank God!

And thank Dog."

This part throws me off though, what does it even mean? It seems really strange to me to rhyme "god" with "dog".

"whose soft sweet-smelling head seemed to be ever so subtly

molding itself to your shoulder.

But of course you were washed

with the same swell of emotions when you held the next one."

The above verse is the best part of the poem

Out of curiousity are you specifically talking about pupppies or small dogs?

It's some nice work! maybe you could make it more immersive if you mentioned more specific details about the dogs instead of just there color. Like their fur, is it soft or rough? their facial expressions etc. etc.

Keep writing!

~TIMOTHY~

/Thanks for your comments, Timothy. Well, the poem is not only about dogs, except about their ability to inspire love and to love unconditionally--like God does. In that way, dogs are better than us. And the other linkage is that they are, as I'm sure you know, mirror-image words. I am juxtaposing the God/doG word-play to point out that the Highest and one of the lowest of creatures are better than humans but, for some reason, they love us anyway. So it's really about love, and about how strangely we love, and how we're less forgiving than both God and dogs.

The part "And Thank God/and thank Dog!" follows the line about love comes in the window even when we lock the door. Love tends to get to us anyway, even if we're determined to protect ourselves, even if we think we can't risk it or don't have time for it or don't trust it, or whatever. Love will find a way to sneak into your life even if it is only through God sending you a series of dogs to love. (And let us be thankful to both of them for that!) I also tried to say (in the part you liked most) that we always think the our current love (whether it's a lover or a baby or a dog) will be our last because we just can't imagine ever loving anything more than that! But we always come up with more love, even when we think we've used it up. So really, I think too much description of the dogs would further camouflage the message, which, given that you didn't understand all of it, means it may be too obscure already! But I'm glad you liked it anyhow, and I appreciate the feedback!