The Hot Dog & The Cool Cat


Once my dog sat so close
to the roaring fire that his coat
grew red flames and gray smoke.
As he yelped he sprouted a black satanic tail
and ran screaming from his painful grooming
pet turned to devil dog, growling at hell's scent.
Now he cowers at the back of that padded room
lapping holy water from a poor man's begging pail
filled with adoration for the Cat's napping cradle
howling canine homilies to the oceans of the moon.



John G.Hall(C)2004