Poetry, a pinch of God

     My mom read an article in the Eugene Register Guard the other day and it included a poem by Alicia Suskin Ostriker, a poet from New Jersey.  How someone from the east coast can capture my life in the West is just one miracle of literature, I guess.  She wrote a poem that includes a dog's point of view.  The poem, The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog made my mom smile.  Here's the part she said made her think of me:

    "To be blessed
    said the dog
    is to have a  pinch
    of God
    inside you
    and all the other
    dogs can smell it"

.

  See, we were given these great noses...I think mine is rather attractive, don't you?  We sniff history with our noses and check other dogs out and assess everything:  "Can I eat it?  Will it hurt me?"  The two big questions of life.
    Anyway, I sniffed out a problem in the yard the other day.  I had all three little dogs in my life hanging around, running up and down the yard, barking and laughing  (that's Caesar, Charlie and Toby) when I realized the danger.  Not far from where I'm laying in this picture, I smelled then heard then saw the rattlesnake, all coiled and ready to strike.
      Well, I knew enough not to try to jab at it, not to get to close.  I barked but it didn't slink away.  It stayed to mark its territory I guess but not in my back yard!!!   I started to bark my steady, warning, get-your-butt-out-here-now!- sort of bark.  And before long, Matt, my brother, came out with the pistol and took care of the snake.  The little dogs all danced around me, happy, happy and Matt and his wife Melissa gave me lots of pats and hugs for being the guardian dog that I am.  I knew they'd tell my mom and dad when they got home and they gave me even more hugs and pats.  I had a pinch of God in side me that day and all the other little dogs could smell it!
    I hope you have a pinch of God in your day too!  Keep sniffing!  Woolf!  Woolf!  Bo