Pit Bull!

Entered into the Phobia contest.

You f*****g scare me sometimes, dog,
but not the flames of your eyes
that everyone sees, as if it reminds them
of their house from childhood, fire
licking the thick sole of sky,
some accident in the kitchen, perhaps
their family dog (a golden retriever,
I bet) having leapt onto a steaming
stove top for the bacon, grease
spilling everywhere, the children
alone in a panic as Shadow
howls in pain, Mother busy in the bathroom
with her bed-hair, stupidly, as the fire
begins its slow, snakelike consumption
of that kitchen. No, that doesn't scare me.

I'm not scared of your jagged teeth
everyone has described as vice-like,
as a permanent tumor hanging from the neck
you're sure to clamp down on. I bet
they remember their father, a benign mole
bloating into a football years later, inoperable
because of the steady, beating artery
it's latched on to—like you would,
remember? No more touchdown victories
at the stadium, the home team pulling
through as they always did, last minute.
Would their father do the same, some last ditch
effort on the cold, surgeon's table
as they cling onto their skin-charred
mother, pleading to God "You took Shadow,
but not Papa, too!"? No, that doesn't scare me.

What scares me the most is your tail,
that bony whip that swings side-to-side
every morning when I return from work, dread-heavy.
The paint from the walls crumble
into white crackers on the floor, my legs
veined a deep red like gazpacho. What scares me,
also, is the backyard and its midget fence.
Three times you've climbed over as an escapee,
look-out neighbors soon knocking as you circle
around them, begging to play Catch me if you can!
What if you don't return someday? What if those kids,
fully grown, return with guns, rabid
for vengeance, mouth frothed with muggy spit
as they point the barrel at your mass of fur
and energy? Before they fire, thinking of their mother,
dead by suicide, and their father, mute,
paralyzed on his bed from that botched operation,
you won't growl. You'll be whipping that tail,
excited about that toy they clutch in their trembling

hands as if it were some giant fetching stick.
When they fire, I'm scared that I'll burn
my own house down in a fit of depression,
hoping that some football would lodge
in their throats so they can sit, frozen,
in hell, where I shoot back at that b***h

they call a mother.

Author's Note

It's sad--the rampant fear that the average person seems to have about pit bulls. My own father even warned me that pit bulls -will- clamp down on their owner's neck and never let go. My mother has, half-jokingly, suggested we shoot my dog because her friends say that he will kill me because "all pit bulls turn on their owners." Have they even been around my dog? He's such a brat and he absolutely adores people. The most dangerous thing about him is his tail, which is absolutely fatal when he's excited. Try getting hit in the eye by a tail that's more like a whip--not pleasant at all!

Reviews

[Tania Leigh]

This is one of the strongest, most twistedly captivating writes I've read....you started out with a punch and sped up from there....I was fixated on every word.

It is sad that an entire breed can be so narrow-mindedly classified as "bad", when in truth, more often than not, it's the dog's owners that are to blame for it's bad behavior. True, certain breeds have certain traits, and not all of them good, but I've witnessed many times people getting a kick out of how ferocious their dog is. I'm a firm believer that the owner needs more training than the dog a lot of times.

I have a German Shepherd and an English Bulldog....two breeds that everyone told me could never exist together, especially since they came to me at one and a half and two years old, respectively.....they get annoyed with eachother now and then but I have learned what sets them off and have corrected or avoided it.

This is a great write....thanks for entering it in the contest!

[Kena Dawn Augustine]

very unique poem. not your average, for sure. The subject matter is easy and fun to read. I got bit by a golden retriever when i was eight, i was scared of those, but yeah, pit bulls are pretty scary. except on "turner and hooch." lol. welcome to this site (oh, and by the way, i'm asian too, half.)

[Jester]

interesting poem, I have had several german shepards and their known as attack dogs, so I know where your coming from. welcome to writerscafe.

[RougeAngel]

it is sad how stereotyped pit bulls are. good descriptions and welcome to writerscafe!

[Lyra H]

Great descriptions! Welcome to WritersCafe