A friend recently sent me the following lovely poem by poet extraordinaire Mary Oliver. Because it was about a dog, I automatically compared that animal’s experiences with those of my puppy, Ollie. Once I did that, I could not resist the temptation to portray Ollie’s alternate reality poetically, too. Below are both poems, the exquisite original and the parody.
Luke, by Mary Oliver from Red Birds
I had a dog
who loved flowers
Briskly she went
through the fields.
yet paused
for the honeysuckle
or the rose,
her dark head
and her wet nose
touching
the face
of every one
with its petals
of silk
with its fragrance
rising
into the air
where the bees,
their bodies,
heavy with pollen,
hovered-
and easily
she adored
every blossom,
not in the serious,
careful way
that we choose
this blossom or that blossom –
the way we praise or don’t praise –
the way we love
or don’t love-
but the way
we long to be –
that happy
in the heaven of earth –
that wild, that loving.
Ollie by Myrna Milani from the as yet unwritten Poems for Preparing the Soil
I had a puppy
who loved manure
Briskly he went
through the newly turned garden
yet paused
for the turd
or the turdette
his brindled head
and his wet nose
touching
the surface
of every one
with its bits of
of hay
with its fragrance
rising
into the air
where the flies,
their bodies,
trembling with anticipation,
hovered-
and easily
he adored
every nugget,
not in the serious,
careful way
that we choose
this salad or that dessert-
the way we praise or don’t praise –
the way we love
or don’t love-
but the way
we long to be –
that happy
in the heaven of earth –
that wild, that loving.
that indiscriminate
in our eating habits.