Spelling Dog Backwards

by | Apr 15, 2019

Write a poem about the way                  a man
              once bitten by a dog      can fear all dogs
              for the rest of his life                  but a woman
once attacked by a man can never say
              she fears men.                   Write a poem
about the way a Google search of women
              and dogs brings up various pages
on making love to your dog      and human-dog breeding
              possibilities. Write a poem about the way
dogs were sacrificed                  and buried in front
of Chinese homes and city gates
to ward off evil                  the way ancient
Egyptians mummified their dogs      with as much care
as a human family member      the way Ishtar traveled
              with seven dogs in Mesopotamia      the way
Yudistira turned down heaven              to remain
with his dog      the way dogs ate the body
              of Jezebel and left her dripping
              in the street      the way dogs licked blood
from a chariot.                  Write a poem
about the way a man can      call a woman dog
              and become her president
the way the three-headed dog guards
              the gates of Hades       the way a dog’s blood
was sacred      and used for an oath
the way even Jesus called a Samaritan woman
dog      and the woman responded
              willing to eat the scraps from his table.
Photo by josef421

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