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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DOG AND CAT, by RUTH ANDERSON BARNETT
First Line: The dog is not to lunge
Subject(s): Animals; Cats; Dogs
First Line: The dog is not to lunge
Subject(s): Animals; Cats; Dogs
The dog is not to lunge
at the cat, nor push it with his large
aggressive nose, nor chase it
when it makes to run for cover.
He knows this. The cat's a burr
in his ear, it enters the room and galls him.
He could crush the bones of its neck.
He could shake it like a slipper. Drop it.
Nudge it into a heap
and leave it. But the cat is smaller therefore
stronger. Sometimes he forgets, it
teases by, he bristles, his muscles
hum like springs, they tremble.
He rises, eyes it sideways, snaps
his head away. Erases it.
Copyright © Ruth Anderson Barnett.
http://www.unl.edu/schooner/psmain.htm
Prairie Schooner is a literary quarterly published since 1927 which
publishes original stories, poetry, essays, and reviews. Regularly cited in the
prize journals, the magazine is considered one of the most prestigious of the
campus-based literary journals.
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