Lucky with Dogs

Lucky w Dogs (cowboy poetry, for the girl who once asked me if i were such)

Lucky I've always been to have dogs
through thick and thin since my memories begin
one pal at a time, big yard took the twin,
no wife in the club cab? three dogs 'd fit in...

Dogs make you humble, your liking won't depend on your
politics or ride but he'll check your rear end,
one - he's a pet, two - not quite 'pack',
three mutts lord and master can their heads i still whack.

Big Buddy, my shepherd, little i'd ride him, hard!
steered outrigger toes, his ears I'd yard
best of pals seemed days no end...bonehead "bit" my sisters' friend!
girl fights looked real to him I guess, one final put down: 'loyal rest'.

Malpy, maltese-pom, first all-mine dog, us 'same-aged as pups' till her silent fog
jumped cross carpets fearing 'the leash'
three hours in dad's lazy boy, but underneath.
walked off our deck - bouncing blind
but no goodbye? not the thought-out kind.

Butch and Buddy II, twoferday at the pound, both snipped and clipped 80 bucks there 'round:
big lab/weimereiner, 'Butcher' to me, chin on my butt-crack watched tv,
we drank beer from the bottle (he'd have two to my three)
chased Klinger's cows, brought home trash, wrecked Greg Phillip's car, raced our school bus & passed!
Butch knew 'hit him' in code, might hunt grouse and duck, but always fought furious centurion net-style -
Moms' bridge ladies, necks crained, would cluck.
'Bud' said mutt to every sense, poodle/collie/hairball 70 lb. burr-fence,
rear-dragging squirrel hater, husky fat, unclean, perfumed my bed in "fish smell obscene" (tm)
a hide-smack 'd cause asthmatic constriction and wheeze
(he's still my all time fav, keep that quiet if you please)

with marriage came 'Banjo', retriever ma, long-gone pa,
dove for Springs in the Kitimat, buck-kicked on Klem Tu,
her 'bears ahead' whine saved my $%@, time or two
came the kids she came second, body slammed in her place
the day she nipped first-born slightly cutting his face
to be sure he'd deserved it as he had eat her food,
we ne'er spoke of't again - that day on she'd been gooood .

now our 'Cooper - "be a gift", 'd said 'my good drug-neighbour Todd'
(wife-weasel conned fifty bucks: "food and lodge")
of black lab/g. retriever he mistakenly came, jet black till ray sun sets all gold girls to shame,
cleans his teeth in my sprinklers - his Nixon impression,
my Cato, he hunts me with skill and aggression,
'cause as with all dogs we fight, but with 'never' intent,
at worst a leg bends or my head his fang 'dents'.

now he's four, a young man (seven-x dog years progression)
he too will pass on (Son all done school i’d be guess’n)
how many dogs can a boy learn to love, will a man hope to have, to be the friend of...?

ADDENDUM

come blackberry! blackberry? daughter's own girl
now eight months white-black border collie rocket squirrel
grumpy at sleeping, learning to scrap but every so gently
still sleeps in your lap
cooper and she: uncle wolf by the hour
a lamprey attached grown his ear cauliflower

but boy do we love her, thought she was lost
up behind Ellison where big cats still lie
she speeds out of voice shot makes my heart feel too high
but here she comes flying, snow puffs at her heel
Cooper smiles knowing just how we feel.