Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DOG WANTED, by MARGARET MACKAY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DOG WANTED, by                    
First Line: I don't want a dog that is wee and effeminate
Last Line: Just a portable, washable, lovable pup!
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs


I don't want a dog that is wee and effeminate,
Fluffy and peevish and coyly discriminate;
Yapping his wants in a querulous tone,
Preferring a cake to a good honest bone.

I don't want a beast that is simply enormous,
Making me feel as obscure as a dormouse
Whenever he hurtles with jubilant paws
On my shoulders, and rips with his powerful claws
My sturdiest frocks; the kind of a mammal
That fits in a parlor as well as a camel,
That makes the floor shake underfoot when he treads,
And bumps into tables and bounds over beds.

The sort of a pet that I have in my mind
Is a dog of the portable, washable kind;
Not huge and unwieldly, not frilly and silly,
Not sleek and not fuzzy, not fawning, not chilly --
A merry, straight forward, affectionate creature
Who likes me as playmate, respects me as teacher,
And thumps with his tail when he sees me come near
As gladly as if I'd been gone for a year;
Whose eyes, when I praise him, grow warm with elation;
Whose tail droops in shame at my disapprobation;
No pedigreed plaything to win me a cup --
Just a portable, washable, lovable pup!





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