closer two/too
Having two dogs, it seems only fair to post this today, to follow up on yesterday's post.
What I was attempting to convey in yesterday's verse was the surprising delicacy of achieving this pose with the dogs. It was a gentle negotiation; I was requesting that they do something unfamiliar, and if not uncomfortable, at least outside of their comfort zone. Allowing such closeness required both submission and trust on their part. In the end, I think I got the better picture with Arwen in terms of composition, symmetry and eye contact, but Soleil was the more willing and pliable of the two dogs, and I love this image because it carries a palpable force of emotion and trust.
closer
Dogs don’t like to be hugged,
Or so it is said.
The human embrace, so foreign,
Suffocates, imprisons,
Threatens a remanent, intractable instinct;
A steadfastly enduring
latent rebellion,
Fiercely resisting complete surrender
To ownership, submission.
In truth, each dog has a fractured limit,
A scrimmage line where tame and wild collide.
Trust takes this line, blurs it,
Patiently redefines.
The wildness may push back,
Nourished, emboldened by fear, distrust,
Regaining lost ground.
The unbroken spirit mobilizes,
Resurgent, reinvigorated,
In the space of a heartbeat.
And so it continues,
This ageless dialogue
Predicated on precious faith,
On absolute honesty.
Perfectly imperfect.
semantics
“She can sit up and beg, and
she can give her paw —
I don't say she will, but she can.”
-Dorothy Parker
(back) in the swim
Soleil is still under doctor's orders for taking it easy, but at least we're back in the water again, though embarrassingly tethered.
