Little Children Riding Dogs

Elementalism.

Little Children Riding Dogs

Oh my God I love the idea of little children riding dogs so much
to think of how they’d dress them
I want to be a kid again
and ride my dog to elementary school Bucko! Rex! Socrates! Zeus!
and dismount at the school and send the dog home 
also I had this idea
if all the children rode their dogs to school
when they get there at 8:15 the children say sit
and the dogs just sit there
all day in the sun
the flagpole shadow rolling over their backs like a sundial
while inside the children learn until the bell rings
and they burst out of the school
and mount their dogs and ride them home
and some of them get home at dusk
that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever thought

---

This poem was originally published in the now-defunct journal Forklift, Ohio probably around 2009. It never made it into any of my books, but I always liked it and considered it one of the first “good” poems I ever wrote. In grad school the teacher who was least impressed by my poems told me this was his favorite, calling it “elemental,” and I have pondered that word in relation to poetry ever since.

---