You are eager to make friends,
straining toward possibility
Mom! Mom! Let me go!
Hey! Hey! Friend!
But you must learn self-control
and prove reliable before
you’ll be unleashed on the world.
.
.
First puppy obedience class today. Someone was the most excited one in the room: way too excited to pretend to be one of the cool kids, and he talked WAY too much. Apparently he is truly my dog. (cough).
He says she’s not a pebble.
He says she’s more like an interesting rock formation.
Ah, but rock formations were once mountains
as mountains become pebbles
in time.
.
This mountain fills all we can see
I step this way.
You step that way.
Distance grows until we have disappeared from view.
From where we are now, we can each squish
a mountain between our finger and thumb.
I am but one pebble on the beach of your memory,
but oh how I remember the tides of you,
lapping across the surface of me,
making me shine for a moment,
glinting in the sunlight refracted by your ripples,
toppling me in your surf, ’til I clattered like applause
as you went back out to sea.
I feel like I could follow him
around the house saying ‘No’
because getting into trouble
always seems his goal.
But mischief is usually
just a disguise for boredom,
so I’ll work on tricks instead
so I can reward him.
Making time is part of the contract
and I’m the one who chooses how to act.
.
.
Look at those mischievous eyes! There’s a lot of training to give him a job to keep him out of trouble! So far (at 5 months old) he knows: sit, lie down, lie across my feet, stand on 2 feet, go to your bed, move back, fetch, drop the toy, trade whatever is in his mouth, put the ball on the lacrosse stick…
(Those awesome purple patent leather and psychedelic pink shoes are Fluevog Pearl Harts which were the shoes that celebrate finishing my Masters and my birthday last week. Very festive, no?) 🙂
The day of birth
contemplation of what’s behind,
what’s ahead.
What is desired
What will not be
What is hope
What is reality
The ruminations that bring joy
and not a little
melancholy.
Beetle black eyes
sparkling intelligence
in that black satin face
long pink tongue
hangs between canine teeth
ferociously happy.
.
.
Shaved the puppy today. His face is nekkid but he’s extra cute! We’ve been training today. He learned 3 new tricks! He puts the toy into a lacrosse stick for me to throw it (very handy on mucky days), he’ll lie over my feet, and he stands on his back feet. This in addition to come, sit, down, back, catch, go pee. Very talented puppy. 😉
#miniaturepoodle
I pass the tennis courts
where you used to play
and hope you’re getting matches
in heavenly doubles games.
Shawn L. Bird 