I am grateful to my friend Bonnie for many things, the most recent being a poem she shared with me. I don't follow modern poetry closely and was unfamiliar with this this poet who is being increasingly recognized for her work. Those who know me in the flesh are aware of my bad attitude about my home state of Pennsylvania. This poet, Kasey Jueds, lives in Philadelphia and has been published by the University of Pittsburgh Press (the fabulous Miss Lizzie is currently enrolled there). Perhaps the poet escaped the peeA curse by being born in Florida and spending her adolescent years in London. If you are as moved by this work as I was, please visit her website. And give thanks to friends who share treasured thoughts.
Claim
Once during that year
when all I wanted
was to be anything other
than what I was,
the dog took my wrist
in her jaws. Not to hurt
or startle, but the way
a wolf might, closing her mouth
over the leg of another
from her pack. Claiming me
like anything else: the round luck
of her supper dish or the bliss
of rabbits, their infinite
grassy cities. Her lips
and teeth circled
and pressed, tireless
pressure of the world
that pushes against you
to see if you're there,
and I could feel myself
inside myself again, muscle
to bone to the slippery
core where I knew
next to nothing
about love. She wrapped
my arm as a woman might wrap
her hand through the loop
of a leash—as if she
were the one holding me
at the edge of a busy street,
instructing me to stay.
from Keeper © University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013
with permission from the author
I love you, Bonnie, and all my friends who have made me a better person
