POODLE the first 7

First seven poodle poems (1970)

1.

splashing dog in pudd

le blublack standard:

hunting curly:

the ferocity of the poodle

in a tight spot.

2.

When a mixed pup is part poodle,

it always has a taste for things

that it can’t possibly have.

3

You may disguise yourself from me.

You can act nonchalant.

There can be less than nothing said.

But remember,

my poodle smells everything.

4.

A poodle is

a presentable dog.

When he dies

and goes to heaven,

he’ll sniff

the crotch of god.

5.

They are magnificent fetchers.

though their fashion is over-sophistication.

Swimmers

head barely above the water,

a wake that makes

his neck the apex of V,

which opens the ocean

like a zipper,

he’ll bring it back.

If you’re ever lost at sea,

look for poodle,

his V always points toward home.

6.

He was abandoned by the access road.

He jumped out of a sedan.

he eluded capture.

He runs to the top

of a hill in the pasture

to watch sailing ship

with a striped spinnaker,

bulging with wind, sailing

south to Galapagos.

With his second eyelid closed,

he can see the tropical days

yipping at the tortoises

grazing in the meadows

of San Cristobal.

7.

A poodle is not

just a haircut.

He is tongue-clean,

tooth-combed and ready.

He is the voice of the basenji,

the perspicacity of the golden retriever,

the languor of whippets.

And when he falls asleep,

he falls asleep

like a lost limb.