Comments on: Guest Blogger: Cleo

By: muddywaters

muddywaters — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:08:48 +0000

Most days that summer your old dog came up,
in the searing heat, with a failing heart,
from your place, the half-mile uphill to mine―

up the steep rise, past the pastured goats, on
the buggy trail that swerves through blueberries.

As you pointed out, The Odyssey
is full of tears, everyone weeping
to find and lose and find each other again.

Spent, he struggled the last two hundred yards,
ears low, chest heaving. Hearing
the jangling of his tags I knew the gods

had chosen me to praise him for his journey,
offer food and water, a place to sleep.

“Xenia” by Robin Becker

By: muddywaters

muddywaters — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:15:25 +0000

Night Watch

Chico whines, no reason why. Just now walked,
dinner gobbled, head and ears well scratched.
And yet he whines, looking up at me as if confused
at my just sitting here, typing away, while darkness
is stalking the back yard. How can I be so blind,
he wants to know, how sad, how tragic, how I
won’t listen before it is too late. His whines are
refugees from a brain where time and loss have
small dominion, but where the tyranny of now
is absolute. I get up and throw open the kitchen door,
and he disappears down the cement steps, barking
deeper and darker than I remember. I follow
to find him perfectly still in the empty yard—
the two of us in the twilight, standing guard.

by Mark Smith-Soto

By: Jo

Jo — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:39:46 +0000

As the owner of two labs, and having had nothing but labs most of my adult life, i have one thing to say. Man, I love that dog!!!

By: gina

gina — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 14:24:35 +0000

omg! cleo is soooooooooooooooo cute!

By: Chef Gwen

Chef Gwen — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:34:18 +0000

oops… just played Cleo’s ballad, and now I have two frantic Westies desperately searching the house for the singer. What a hoot!

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:14:18 +0000

OMG, Cleo is the spitting image of Skipper T. Lovebody, a beautiful, dear, sweet labber I had the privilege of living with and loving a long time ago. Thanks for the blast from the past.

By: gina

gina — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:40:26 +0000

you have an adorable dog

By: Louise

Louise — Sat, 29 May 2010 13:26:23 +0000

I was once married to a man that sounded like Cleo. From Cleo it’s cute:)

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, Marilyn!!!

By: Valkyrie

Valkyrie — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:44:04 +0000

Pleeeeeease! Pleeease, Pumpking Biscuits! Pleeeeeease, Moooooooooom!

Of course, the exact wording is open to interpretation, but I believe that’s the heart of it. The dialect is rather obscure.

By: Caroline

Caroline — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:02:52 +0000

Oh my, what an adorable adorable adorable Cleo! Clearly she picked her people well. I think she is saying – what’s with the camera? I want butter, to be played with, butter, crust, a ball to chew and you to fetch, butter and a nap. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me )