sestina of my black golden chihuahua pug mutt puppy biting my thumb

The dog’s sweet smell amplifies in the sunlight

of daybreak, as she is only a mutt, a puppy.

We sit together in meditation, floating on the rug

as I reach for the forbidden item in her clenched jaw

among her infant teeth, my thumb exposes a slice

deeper than the brown of her eyes, exposing a single drop

of my body blood. She does not drop

the forbidden item and I wipe my thumb on the rug.

The crimson spot basks in the sunlight

as I tighten the muscles that line my jaw,

trying not to cry. It is only a drop and she is only a puppy,

and I can fetch my own bandage to shield the slice

of soft skin and boiling blood. Like the scissors slice

through the giftwrap preparing for the sunlight

of Christmas morning. As we sit on the rug

basking in the glow of gifts and the new puppy

squirming out of my arms as I try not to drop

her. Her soft mouth and toothless gums line a jaw

of unmasked purity. This morning she holds in her jaw

the plush innocence of the whole nation. Drop-

kicked to the Boston curb by the sunlight

of Faneuil Hall. A nursing and abandoned puppy

vacuuming up the scents of the curb searching for a slice

of Subway deli meats. Her toughened paws scrape the rug

like our old dog’s worn toes pulled up lint from the rug

as she ran through the fields in her sleep. Sunlight

beaming over the open field, dew drops

tickling her wet nose. Two months ago the cancer sliced

her spleen in two and it bled heavy, the jaws

of life leaving her as helpless as a puppy.

This infant replacement mutt is only a puppy

who did not mean to split open my thumb, her teething jaw

unclenches in spastic motions like the paring knife slices

crisp apples for our lunch salad. I drop an apple on the rug,

it spits out its own juice as I watch it drop

from my hand. Puppy’s watching eyes glow in the sunlight.