We’ve squashed you
to suit our whims,

replaced wild ugly with
domestic ugly, the kind

that makes you shiver
and gives you gout.

And yet you still yap,
still howl as if cued.

Even if your noses
have been shrunk,

even if you’re chained
to laps and purses,

if you cannot give birth
without being cut open,

your ancestors were not
completely bred out.