To the Dogs

The ravenous god who devours our flesh,
she always throws a bone to the dogs.

The Tenderloin, the Yoshiwara,
Sharon Terkel’s trailer, all gone to the dogs.

Feeling distant from him who lay close,
she crept downstairs alone to the dogs.

A misanthrope she now knew him to be,
for he’d never taken that tone with the dogs.

The parents, but not the sons,
feel most at home with the dogs.

Most say Ron, some Ronald, some Ronnie.
By scent I’m truly known to the dogs.