Girls That Swim

Christopher Martin

I like girls that swim;
   They tend to have
   Firm well-shaped stomachs,
   They tend to have
   Capable shoulders
   Round which they swing
   In and out of the licking water.

        CURIOUS DEATH

Curious that the brown bear-
like chow, Bruno he was
called, should have been
killed unmeaningly
by J. spilling the soup
over his neck.
           He was
the first big dog I found
friendly, not feral or
snatching; he made it a
world, my childhood, with high redwood,
its soil-like bark,
cement lake, muscovy ducks,
sweeping shade of cedar,
not suggesting needless pain
from other smaller more rabid dogs
incisive through my arms
and hands blood-branded.
 Bruno had not taught
aggression, though he was
tough, and firm, in a way.