Yellowdog
Found the poem while packing and thought I'd throw it on here real quick.
I wrote it in college. We were supposed to pick a photograph and describe it, then move to a memory, then make an analogy. I chose a picture of Hunter and me...we were spooning on the rug in front of the fire at our old house:
Yellowdog
His almond eyes, half hidden,
rest in her red sweater sleeve,
her fair curls mingling with blonde fur.
Pink palms nestle in his chest feathers;
they're like two golden spoons
in a drawer with oriental liner,
basking, borrowing heat from hearth,
they sleep forever on Kodak paper.
And often in summer grass,
the sleepy paws stretch by the lawn chair,
her body is his shade as he licks ice cubes
that fall from her red Dixie cup.
And sometimes in spring-fed water,
they drift on well-worn foam floats,
yellowdog on his own yellow raft.
Nosing closer, wet dog props his
sweet, sun-warmed chin on her browning young arm--
total sunblock--but she doesn't mind,
and his chin links their lazy drift.
Balloons, car-rides, the small white dog:
things that make a yellowdog anxious
Crooked-tooth smile, rhythmic tail wag:
things that make an anxious girl calm.
