Pooches and People,
After the election, our creative, lovely town of Albany placed haiku signs everywhere. It really lifts a dog’s spirit to leave peE-mail and read poetry all at the same time. I have to admit, toward the end of 2016 my muse ran away too…Here’s hoping that everyone’s muse runs toward them in 2017! Wow and woof, we all need some extra inspiration to start the year~ Let’s get creative!
Pooches! What’s with the boring dog titles? I was walking by the bookstore today and saw three doggish books. Rrrrrr… Given how amazing we dogs are, I’d really like to see some imagination in the titles…Something to chew on, with a little je ne sais paw.
????!!!!???
Wow and woof…Wilma, a local Bay Area dog, has a new book coming out…Wilma’s World: Good Advice from a Good Dog.
Wilma’s person, ceramicist Rae Dunn, credits Wilma as being her Muse. Bringing inspiration and joy to our people is definitely one of our highest callings. It’s pawsome to see what happens when an artist dog and and an artist human come together in a partnership.
Wilma’s World is a book of phodographs and insights from a dog’s mind…and you know that always gets interesting. I’m looking forward to a good read.
So here’s to Wilma and all of us Canine Muses out there inspiring, blogging, romping, and doing our work in the world by just being dogs.
A cadence of peace might balance its weight
on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,
an energy field more intense than war,
might pulse then,
stanza by stanza into the world,
each act of living
one of its words, each word
a vibration of light—facets
of the forming crystal.
~ Denise Levertov, excerpt from Making Peace
“You may not agree, you may not care, but
if you are holding this book you should know
that of all the sights I love in this world–
and there are plenty–very near the top of
the list is this one: dogs without leashes.”
~ Mary Oliver, Dog Songs
Dogs! Even though Mark Twain is known for his biting satirical social criticism, you can be sure his admiration and respect for the integrity of a dog was earnest. He was a writer who knew how to use his bark to get his point across. In a fourteen-word quote, he even manages to praise dogs while taking a bite at the inhumane human society of his time. Brilliant.
Yesterday morning I was listening to the morning bark on National Public Radio…I found out August 18 is National Bad Poetry Day. Bowza-Wowza! So, in honor of this important day, I have written a Bad Haiku.
Bad Haiku
I’m a haiku dog
Sniffing the ground for peE-Mail
So I can answer.
Dogs! Don’t miss this chance to write doggerel. Bad Poetry Day only happens once a year. The rest of the time you’ll want to be a profound hound!
The Promise of a Sleeping Dog’s Breath
~excerpted and “poetized” from the postscript in How to Speak Dog by Stanley Coren
At night, when I lie down to sleep,
my old dog Wiz lies on the bed beside me
while Odin lies on a cedar chip pillow
and my puppy, Dancer, not quite house-trained,
sleeps in his kennel.
In the quiet and darkness, sounds are amplified.
I can hear the low, slow breathing
of the big black dog,
the short breaths of the orange puppy
and the occasional sniffle
and snore of the old white dog.
“I am here with you,” a dog’s breath says.
“We will face this life together.
There is no beast or intruder that can steal up on you here,
I am your eyes and ears.
We will share the sunshine tomorrow.
We will explore this world together.
We will laugh together.
We will play together,
even though neither of us is any longer a child.
And if luck turns bad, then when you grieve,
I will comfort you.
You will never need to be alone again.
I promise this.
As your dog, I will sing this promise to you,
and whisper it to you at night,
every night
with my breath.”
Wow and woof. There are many ways we dogs heal and support the people around us. And one of the most profound is reflected in the scene above…through our steadfast companionship, our connected presence, the reassuring sound of our breath as we sleep nearby. A dog’s promise.
The love affair between us dogs and our humans can be intense, joyful, and bittersweet. We may be our person’s closest friend, their loyal and trusted companion, or their furry child. The poem “A Dog on His Master” by Poet Laureate, Billy Collins, is a wise and dedicated dog’s meditation on the poignancy of this deep love in the face of our canine life spans. Truly, love between a dog and its person is a sweet surrender.
A Dog on His Master
As young as I look,
I am growing older faster than he,
seven to one
is the ratio they tend to say.
Whatever the number,
I will pass him one day
and take the lead
the way I do on our walks in the woods.
And if this ever manages
to cross his mind,
it would be the sweetest
shadow I have ever cast on snow or grass.
~ Billy Collins