my dog did this I grab my arm to keep it shut no blood
but from the holes ooze yellow worms of fat you got rid
of the dog of course a question from the stern intern as he
patches and sews the greyness of shock spares me from
answering
After the stitching my arm sprouts black whiskers.
About this poem
My Kelpie, Lady, got into a fight with another dog. I picked her up, trying to hold her above the teeth of the other dog, but the dog attached itself to her leg. Lady could not defend herself while I was holding her and I could not get her away from the dog. I had my arm around her belly, holding her against my body. She dropped her head and bit me once on the arm, to make me let go of her so she could defend herself. It worked - I dropped her and I grabbed my arm. It was quite a serious bite and the scars are still there like stars!! By that time, someone else grabbed the other dog, and all was well. hence to the hospital (in a regional city in NSW where such things may not be unknown) and the doctor’s question.
Lady and I had a very good relationship and I felt that I should have apologised to her for not leaving her to deal with it - but then, on the other hand…
She lived to a ripe old age and that never happened again.
About Elizabeth Blackmore
I attended MacRobertson Girls' High School and Toorak Teachers' College in Melbourne before moving to Sydney to teach. I completed a BA in English and an MA in Literature at Macquarie University in Sydney. I have taught at TAFE and High Schools in the Hunter Valley, Bega High School on the Far South Coast of NSW, and CIT and High Schools in the ACT. I was fortunate to also have the experience of teaching in prisons in Cessnock, Maitland and the ACT. I moved back to Melbourne three years ago and now teach English at Hampton Park Secondary College. I have had poetry published in the "Canberra Times" and "Blue Dog Anthology", Wollongong University. Other interests include oil painting and clay and limestone sculpture. I won the Emerging Artist Sculpture Award in Gippsland in 2006. I have renovated a number of houses and enjoy landscape gardening.
