Bitch Is a Word I Hear A Lot

I hate the word, and I guess that’s why it is said?

People love to hurt one another.

It is what makes us human.

I do love dogs.

They don’t seem to be evil unless humans make them that way.

Dogs can maul and they can sniff out bombs.

They’ll get as close to you as they can while you’re sleeping.

They’ll share heat and scent in the crook of your knees.

Is there really a thing such as innocence?

I have desired from birth to live.

Daily, I wrestle the tight arms of guilt.

At the shelter, the adoption coach told us that our new dog was highly food motivated.

I have been called a bitch.

Our dog trembles when he’s afraid and the only thing we can do is wait for the fear to leave.

There’s no comforting him.

In a dream they held me down, scrawled BITCH across my chest in old embers.

They covered my head as a weapon was raised.

I had a dog who once kept me from walking into the arroyo.

She blocked my path and wouldn’t move.

I’ll never know what, or who, she saved me from.

Source: PoetryNow (2019)