Girls That Swim

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.