The Bite is Always Worse than the Bark
Worse than being bit
when I was eight years old
was the shame I felt
having to pull up my skirt
and pull down my pants
to show the doctor
Almost as bad as that
were the jokes that followed
and never having a dignified way
to say bum, butt, rear-end or fanny
For years I dreamt of growling dogs
German Shepherds that wouldn’t let me pass
at the school bus stop corner
of Spring Street and Nantasket Ave
I faced them down
Somewhere in my ‘30s
when my dreams changed from barking dogs
to being lost in strange cities
Worse than being bit
when I was eight years old
was being bit again at 65
being targeted and marked
with a vampire-like imprint
in the same place twice
for no reason
It seems that dog bites can be recurring
like bronchitis or ear infections
and that childhood bogeymen come back and bite
like dreams can bleed into your real life
And when you’re bit in the ass
you have to ask ‘what is the metaphor
for this chewing out?’
What immunity have I been inoculated against?
What symmetry of destiny?
What betrayal?
_______________Colleen Redman / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads
January 3rd, 2016 9:11 pm
Have you met anyone to be certifiably ‘fearless’? I haven’t. Though many have incredible strength. And the questions of metaphor can only be answered by the one bitten. Good shtufffs you, I was moved.
January 3rd, 2016 9:45 pm
i like where this goes, and how it encompasses a greater sentiment than the dog bite itself (although heaven knows that’s a suffiiciency itself).
those last two lines resonate. thank you.
January 4th, 2016 9:52 am
Love it
January 4th, 2016 3:34 pm
You have taken a difficult and odd experience and written it into a poem. I have been bit only once by a bulldog on my chin. I am cautious around dogs but still love them.
January 4th, 2016 3:40 pm
I couldn’t pass up the unlikely line-up as a jumping off point. It actually did happen but it could also be read as a poet’s metaphor.
January 5th, 2016 12:45 am
[…] never know I got bit by a dog on the thigh/butt just a couple days before and that I was dancing (my ass off) on […]
January 5th, 2016 9:51 am
What an excellent piece. I love the way you tell the tale and then unfurl a personal history of fears to return to the same point again. This is witty and leaves the reader with many unanswered questions to ponder.
January 5th, 2016 10:59 am
The bogeyman returning – proving to be real… You make me ponder about my fears… An excellent piece.
January 5th, 2016 3:15 pm
Very interesting how you transform this palpable experience into an examination of memory, dreams, strange destinies. Certainly you have reason to question how this experience came around more than once. Nicely done.
Steve K.
January 5th, 2016 7:56 pm
Sometimes what we fear never leaves…The bite in the ass still bleeds…Great poetry!
January 6th, 2016 1:02 am
[…] 2. And when you’re bit in the ass / you have to ask ‘what is the metaphor / for this chewing out?’ / What immunity have I been inoculated against? / What symmetry of destiny? / What betrayal? – Read The Bite is Always Worse than the Bark in its entirety HERE. […]
January 6th, 2016 2:00 am
i especially enjoyed that last stanza.
when shitty things happen, you just can’t help but wonder what the lesson is meant to be…or if it’s just some type of random punishment.
this poem is a prime example of how you can take a traumatizing event and turn it into an excellent piece of writing.
January 6th, 2016 7:24 pm
WOW Coll so sorry to hear this.
I would have been petrified. I love dogs and have never been afraid of them. I heard they can sense your fear!
January 7th, 2016 3:10 pm
Certainly that is a painful experience but what a story to tell again and again. Great writing Colleen!
January 7th, 2016 6:23 pm
Good one, CR; suns up nicely.