of a dog to lick
up the amniotic sac
from her offspring,
brith another puppy,
lick him clean
repeat, the voice of God,
in the mother’s head
gently directing, giving
her the confidence to act
and look as if she’s done
this a hundred times before,
though it’s her first
and she’s never seen it done.
But perhaps the memory
of a dog is longer
than we know, perhaps
she can remember
her mother’s warm sand
papery tongue-can still feel
herself shedding the remnants
of her mothers uterus
burrowing, searching
for a nipple in a pile
of puppies under her mother.
We are the most intelligent
of God’s creatures but not
all of us are born
with this knowing, sometimes
we have newborns
sawed from drainpipes.
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