Sins of a Wet Nurse

My dog wants to eat whatever I eat
aint but nibbled at her dry food
but unpeel a banana and watch out
the damn thing gets ravenous

I know it aint the bowl
she’ll eat things out of it if I put em there
and it aint the food neither,
she eats that stuff out of my hand
as a reward

I think she’s so damn attentive
that the poor thing forgets to eat

or

she is so damn dependant on me
that the poor thing can’t do a thing
herself

Hell,
I know the later one is a load of bull
She has standoffs with squirrels
6 feet above her head
she traces each of their leaps
from branch to branch
with a ready mouth
shadowed by the body of her opponent
poised underneath
all tongue and teeth
before bright flickering eyes

Maybe the kid just wants to work for it
I’d call that a rare sentiment these days

I put the food bowl down
when I took her home
yesterday morning
a little after 10
figured she ate before the flight
maybe around 6
but didn’t know if she had a thing left in her
after all the traveling

Naturally she didn’t touch it
I left it out all day
but she hadn’t touched it
when I put it up for the night

Of course there were treats
little pieces of meat
for coaxing her into/out of places
or paying for a space
in her little doggie heart

But couldn’t’ve been more than
a half cup at best
and she woke up hungry
I put the food out
first thing
took a good long walk
and brought her back in
all revved up
but she wouldn’t have it
just sat there
& watched me eat my pork & eggs
and I know it looked good
I cooked it for chrissakes
so I can’t blame her for wantin’ a taste
but I aint the kind to reward bad behavior
no matter how liberal

So when I had my afternoon banana
she was all over it.
I ain’t never seen such a spectacle
her sits were clear and perfect,
poised,
brushing the floor with a wagging tail
looking at me
like my banana
was just another bushy tailed treat

I stood with the banana and a small knife
I made her sit and stay
while I put each slice into her bowl
then told her to come
and she ate it like it was caviar
tearing into that bowl
she ate half the food in there at a go

It’s good to have an animal in the house
but its dumb to hope it don’t hunt