Mark Weiss wrote:
> THREE IN THE PARK
>
> Trained to test
> the heft of the ball
> before tossing.
>
> Spring. This, he points, is
> George Washington, he tells
> the African.
>
> One is tempted
> not to notice
> the pit bulls.
LIES, DAMN LIES, AND ANIMAL ADOPTIONS
At the SPCA the directive is out:
when we show a dog to an adopter,
there is no such dog as a "pit bull."
It is a Staffordshire Terrier Mix
a poodle with an attitude,
an outsized killer Pomeranian.
Maybe we can pawn one off
as a nastier-than-usual cat because
we have too many cats as it is.
Public relations: we are afraid
people will be afraid if we
call the dog by its rightful name.
Bad associations: white suburbanites
who employ The Colored as nannies
and illegal Mexicansas gardeners
see in the name "pit bull" some guy
in a yellow suit and porkpie hat
beating the shit out of a dog
to make it vicious. The fact
that he succeeds says lots about
imagery. Ours, his, but not the dog's.
When the dogs are seized by the cops
some of them are put down
because some of them have killed.
The others don't like other dogs but cleave to humans
with absolute trust, not because they're stupid but
because maybe love really is stronger than death.
But it's not stronger than the lies we tell.
KTW/5-12-04
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