.

The Great Rub-off

Norm and Zip, in mismatched chairs,
__were sipping tea and talking,
when Desi, their loyal hound, said, “Listen,
__you’re shedding like me!” (How shocking!)

Norm spat out his quinoa,
__Zip spat out her tea.
Desi howled with laughter now:
__“Just sayin’. Don’t blame me!

And, by the way, your dead skin cells
__are in my bowl of water.”
Said Norm, “That dog of yours, I think,
__could not be any odder.”

Donning his Wikipedia hat,
__the scholarly hound replied,
“Humans shed a million skin cells
__daily till they’ve died.

The skin cells that you shed are habits
__better lost forever.”
Said Zip, “That metaphor, dear dog,
__is cool and pretty clever.

I’ve noticed Norm, the germophobe,
__has lately eaten cereal
he dropped on the floor and not thought twice
__about all things bacterial.”

And Norm watched Zippy, the free spirit,
__scanning a food label
and even putting vegan dishes
__on their dinner table.

“Shed? No, no! I exfoliate,”
__said Norm, his arms flung wide.
“If not renewed, my epidermis
__would get all bleached and dried.”

Desi the Wise said, “Rubbing off
__on each other’s what’s occurring.”
As Norm and Zip began to touch,
__their stubborn ways were blurring.

Neurotic cells and feisty cells
__jived and swung and twirled,
swapping each other’s quirks and habits,
__changing their whole world.

.

.

Martin Elster was for many years a percussionist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Martin’s poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies in the U.S. and abroad. A full-length collection, Celestial Euphony, was published by Plum White Press in 2019. Dogged: A Verse Novel is a collaboration between Martin and Joan Axelrod-Contrada.

Joan Axelrod-Contrada, who lives for rhyme, has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts in the U.S. In addition to poetry, she writes essays, articles, plays, and children’s books.

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8 Responses

  2. Julian D. Woodruff

    Cereal-bacterial–couldn’t get any better. Thanks, from another who’s written his share of dog (and cat) stories and poems.

    Reply
    • Martin Elster

      Many thanks, Julian! I’d love to read your dog and cat poems and stories.
      All the best,
      Martin

      Reply
      • Julian D. Woodruff

        Martin,
        A couple of cat poems, plus 1 of 2 parodies of “The Owl and the pussy-cat,” are post here on SCP. Smarty Pants posted the 1st of a group of 3 narrative doggy poems, but I couldn’t persuade them to take the other 2.
        If you have kids’ poems you want to publish, give Smarty Pants for Kids a look.

  4. Martin Elster

    Thanks, Julian, for the info.

    I enjoyed your take on “The Owl and the Pussycat.” It’s fun and clever. And I also enjoyed “The Four-Headed Truck” at Smarty Pants for Kids. (I don’t think they’re taking any subs at the moment, but I’ll check back sometime down the road.) There’s also the children’s poetry journal called The Dirigible Balloon, in which some of my poems for young readers have appeared.

    Reply

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