Jessica Le Bas
and I have something to expiate
after D H Lawrence
dog
brown
white
a marbled dog
a lone
dog
stone d
og
comes to my back-door
early one evening under dark
sits wooden by the wall
uninvited
seeks my hospitality
guards
shards of shot shatter anything that moves
barks like a sniper’s rifle
a a a ah ahhhhhhhhhh
sniper dog
yeah
sniper
snapper
shaking
snaking
snake dog
lost
the snake god growls
and the voice of my education whispers
the front page news of weeks
I should call someone
I should
a fissure opens in my side
reason oozes — heart to heart
lost dog
a lone
shivers shakes
cold marbled dog
scare d
og
wooden hurt a flee
Little Red daughter
drives up to the back gate
in little red car
screams—wolf !
sniper dog
a a a ah ahhhhhhhhhh
Little Red makes it through the door
cries
danger danger
ranger ranger
a pound for your thoughts
and a chance of escape
one piece two piece
bit pull pull pull
bit by bit
limb by limb
heart to heart
huntsman woodcutter
whistles croons
here fella come here boy
a a a ah ahhhhhhhhhh
trickery dickery
god dog not fooled
marble dog
tears at the silence
and the woodcutter in his covered wagon
scalps yelps
tears
tears
tears
the woodcutter drives away
marbled dog howling
into his blackness
rings later
says the bastard was mad
and we finished him off
how paltry, how vulgar
I tell him the real bastard’s left holding the collar
daylight
scratch marks
three parallel lines
two sets
half circles
cut deep into the hardwood at my back door
like a language
girl dog
soft bellied pelt dog
rump to my wall dog
she’d sat
no name dog
lost
a lone d
go go go gone d
and I must confess how I liked her
*
