“Skirt”

she pushes

her face up against the bars

of her cage,

to peer out.

why?

she sees the same things;

same walls

same floor

same room full of human furniture,

where people sit

and talk

and laugh

and sip drinks from glasses.

(she remembers glasses. And

plates, and forks and knives; even

chopsticks.)

day comes. night comes.

day comes. night comes.

she pushes

her face up against the bars

of her cage,

to peer out.

same room.

full of human furniture

and she'll get it, hard,

if she crawls on the big blue

("couch", part her says,

"couch" is what

They call it)

blue soft-thing, where he sometimes

sits,

and calls to her,

and sometimes, she is in

his lap.

and sometimes, he strokes

her neck or

smacks

her behind to

remind her to

do as she is told,

to be a good puppy,

to obey.

sleep. wake. cage.

a good puppy -

but

after all

there is so much

to do!

things to

sniff

and climb on

and sometimes

it's hard to

remember

to be good.

and sometimes

she gets scared. And he

might

get angry.

better

to be

Good.

She peers

through the bars

and wonders

if it will be just

him

today

or if perhaps again

other human people will

come by

and make human words

eat human food,

and sometimes

watch her

in her cage

or put things

in her bowl and

sometimes

approach,

tugging open

the coverings

on their bodies.

One day

he gives her

something to play with.

Cloth.

Pretty.

the word...the word...

"skirt"?

a skirt for a little..

"girl"?

it smells

nice,

good smells, it's

pretty. She

takes it in her teeth, shakes

her head back and forth,

playing.

It's a

good toy.

it seems

somehow

familiar.

but she isn't

sure

why.