Poetry Issue 1
Karla Huston
Sway
The cruelest thing I did to my dog
wasn't to ignore his barking for water
when his tongue hung like a deflated balloon
or to disregard his chronic need for a belly rub
but to teach him to shake hands, a trick
that took weeks of treats, his black eyes
like Greek olives, moist with desire.
I made him sit, another injustice,
and allowed him to want the nuggets enough
to please me. Shake, I said. Shake?
touching the back of his right leg
until he lifted it, his saliva trickling
from soft jowls, my hand wet with his hunger.
Mistress of the biscuit, I ruffled his ears,
said good dog until he got it. Before long,
he raised his paw anytime he wanted my attention.
He shook me until he got everything: the treat,
the rub, the water in a chilled silver bowl,
the wilderness in him gone, his eyes lit with longing.
Winner of the 2003 Main Street Rag Chapbook contest, Karla Huston has published poetry, reviews and interviews in many national journals including 5 A.M., Margie, North American Review, Pearl, Poet Lore, Rattle and others. She is the author of six chapbooks of poetry most recently An Inventory of Lost Things (Centennial Press, 2009) which was selected as a finalist in the 2009 Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets chapbook contest. Visit her at www.karlahuston.com.
