Vox Populi
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Al Ortolani: Picking Ticks Off the Dog
All it takes is average strength
and two good fingernails.
The smaller the tick, the more
difficult he is to pull. The fat,
bloated ones, yank out easily
even though they can splatter.
Pulling ticks is not for the faint at heart.
Resolve is required. You and
the dog may have a difference
in opinion. In fact, an Ozark born
hound, is as much at home
with ticks and burrs, as he is
with scaring up rabbits.
He is seldom particular
about roadkill, and will give
a dead possum a curious nose.
When society collapses, and mankind
begins to eat their pets, packs
of Shih Tzus and Dachshunds
will escape to the hills
to wrestle muskrats.
They will yelp all night beyond
the campfires. If I were a survivalist,
living off my eighty timbered acres,
I’d keep several dogs of all sizes,
remind them that a day is coming
when milk bones will be gone the way
of the wooly mammoth and the dodo.
Ticks, on the other hand, are forever.
Copyright 2023 Al Ortolani
Al Ortolani’s many books include Hansel and Gretel Get the Word on the Street (Rattle, 2019)
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I think about how long they’ll love me after the Milkbones are gone!
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I think your pooches know there’s more to you than just milk bones.
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And the dogs will have plenty to eat. Us.
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It gives ‘feeding the dog’ a whole new meaning.
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It’s obvious that beautiful dog gets it. Sigh.
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Thanks, Lisa. I’ll tell Josie you said that!
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❤️🐾
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Fun poem, smart poem, getting progressively more chilling until that punch of a last line! (And I love the photo of Josie!)
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Thanks for recognizing Josie, Laure-Anne!
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