Okie And I- I Poem by Liberatore Suffoletta

I

Okie is small, hairy, sincere;
from where the palm trees grow
soft on the outside, like strands of cotton,
the color of the morning sun
only the twin black mirrors of his eyes are hard
until they twinkle then coal becomes light
in the yard he caresses lilac stalks with his snout
periwinkle bachelor buttons, magenta cosmos
golden coreopsis, brown eyed susans
pale loose stifes are parted by his sunny tail
until I call him sweetly “Okie”
Then I hear his sigh towards the earth and the sky
And it is not a sigh, it is that he woke up.
He leaps toward me cheerful, he leaps, he is.
Everything is beautiful and constant
Everywhere there is green and reason
I want to cast my lot with his,
When he is lonely, looking wounded
he seeks company in my dry bones,
hoping to find shelter.
He eats whatever I give him.
He likes soft black raspberries,
with their crystalline crypt of garnet dew
I know he could eat a beehive of honey…
While the yellow jackets injected him
with their angry thoughts and venom
He is so tender and sweet and innocent…;
but hard and old on the inside.
When our jog is over, say on Sundays,
As we turn into the driveway of the house
The church goers of the town dressed impeccably
Smart, slowly pause, remain watching him stroll.
He has karma,
Moon, karma and the sun, at the same time.