Politics of the Dog

I love dogs more than people.
Dogs are quiet, people are loud
And when dogs are loud, there is a muzzle for them
You put a muzzle on a person, you’re called “mad”

Dogs don’t need clothes
We accept them nude
You force someone to walk naked, it’s called “abuse”

You can collar a dog, keep them close with a leash
You try to collar a person, they call you “deviant”

Dogs do what you tell them to do
You throw a stick, they come back with it
You throw a stick with a person you have to ‘convince’ them yo get it.
Convince them, pay them, bribe them, threaten them.
People are so difficult, dogs are so easy.

All I ever wanted to do was to make people easy.
Muzzle, naked, obedient,
I love sogs more than people
If I could only make people like dogs
I could finally love them
I could finally love you.

Pangea in War Time

Take me spinning,
while we still have time
Squeeze me out like lime
Oh, how I long for the arms to reach midnight
In the moment just before we are one
And I, with you, reach with my fingers towards the roof of desire

They call for the lights out,
The dark used to be such a fearful thing
Now that hiding place is my thriving place with you.

I need to hold onto your tempo,
When the glass shakes, and I shiver
I’m kept whole by your internal rhythm

I once read a book about Pangea
I think I wept when I learnt what happened.
All of its parts, drifting away,
Never to be whole again.

I say to myself, ‘You’ll come back,
You have to say goodbye’
Properly this time.

Some call this winning
That you are still alive
But when you are gone
I’m back to a hiding place at night.

Do the continents lie awake
Like we lie continents away
Wishing to be one again?

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William Dell Price is a writer, poet, and teacher who is bursting with poetic writing and wishes to share it with others.