{"id":40661,"date":"2017-08-06T01:48:16","date_gmt":"2017-08-06T05:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/?p=40661"},"modified":"2017-08-06T01:48:16","modified_gmt":"2017-08-06T05:48:16","slug":"karenhappuck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/karenhappuck\/","title":{"rendered":"Karenhappuck"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
She was thirteen, I was six<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
We\u2019d gotten her through an infection<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Still the days of putting your dog out the front door<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
To patrol the streets nightly<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
She\u2019d jump the fence anyway<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Still the days of no vets<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Unless the beast somehow earned its keep<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
We were pretty sure it was heartworm<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
I\u2019d followed her that day<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Caching a bone<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Mincing through trash cans, a connoisseur<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Daddy\u2019s friend Jeff was over for dinner<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Paper plates lining straw forms<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Iceberg salad potato salad a slice of ham a glass of milk<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
He played catch with her and she<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Raced, tongue hanging, until dinner was ready and she<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Flopped at our feet<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Adoring ham<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
She twitched once, then twice, then seized<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Thwacking her tail against the wall<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Like we got her ticklish spot<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But the rest of her<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Jangling strangling<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Then pale<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
My uncle tried some CPR<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
This was 1974, remember<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But he picked it up in Vietnam and<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Never put it down.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Karen could secretly slip a candy bar out of your hand<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But there was no dodge for this<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Mom sewed a shroud to<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Elevate the internment above a <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Carcass in the dirt.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Jeff wondered if it was his fault as they shoveled and <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Never visited again
\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Daddy read some Travels with Charley<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
She used to barf in the car too when<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Conditions were wrong<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
David read some Thurber<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
We tried not to laugh and gave that up for<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Guffaws<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Joe across the street came over to commiserate, asked what happened<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
And a flame-headed cousin just getting the hang of talking said<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cLike this!\u201d and hit the ground jerking<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
It wasn’t his<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Kind of funeral<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
David threw in a<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Galvanized lid and a can of Borax she was a<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
sneaky dirty garbage eating hound<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
By which he meant epitome of doghood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
I dug up that bone again, and gave it back to her<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Forever<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
We lifted the shovels<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Not a dry eye in the house<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Slid the dirt back in<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Nothing left of laughter but<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Sad quirks on our chins<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 She was thirteen, I was six We\u2019d gotten her through an infection Still the days of putting your dog out the front door To patrol the streets nightly She\u2019d jump the fence anyway Still the days of no vets Unless the beast somehow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":967,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,441],"tags":[2228,2646,789,2645,2316,2318,326,15,391,10,355,2116,2317,390,1084],"class_list":["post-40661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","category-poetry-prompt-responses","tag-2017poetrymarathon","tag-burial","tag-dog","tag-karenhappuck","tag-laurel","tag-laurel-wilson","tag-marathon","tag-poem","tag-poet","tag-poetry","tag-poetry-marathon","tag-poetrymarathon2017","tag-wilson","tag-writer","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/967"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40684,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40661\/revisions\/40684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}