Dog Story
FROM THE ONLINE CHAPBOOK FLAMINGO PARK
Dog Story
Miriam Levine
Allez-oop, the master calls.
And Trix hops on hind
legs. Her steps are
jerky. Her forepaws
hang. She comes down
hard, takes the cord in
her jaws, rings a bell
to the crowd’s applause,
and eats her reward.
What wouldn’t she
do for sugar—or help
from a friend. The cat’s
the pal she’s talking to:
Sammy, my brain’s wrecked.
I sniff faces that spread
on the wall like mold.
What cats do
I wish I could do.
How do you sleep
when I am dying
for sleep? Sammy,
how do you
live without love?
Trix, my sister, my friend,
think of the warm south
where sand thins on the pavement,
and sea-grape trees shade the path.
There the fire ants toil all day long,
and white jasmine’s in flower.
Mon enfant, ma soeur,
go through the door you
never saw. Kazoom—
you’re in a country
where palm trees grow.
There on some
morning a woman
steps from the ocean.
and rakes back her hair. Her
lovely face is clear. “What
a mutt,” she laughs, and bends
to you on whose flanks
wisps of seaweed cling.
Dos gardenias para ti . . .
Te quiero, te adoro, mi vida . . .
she sings. Fingers deep
in fur, the lady scratches,
“What a mess you are.
You’re not a fish, are you?”
Me Trix, strong dog me,
a flipping fish?
The Lady’s
talking baby talk.
Some people do.
Flamingo Park
Miriam Levine
2026
Flamingo Park is Miriam Levine’s gift to you. The setting of this online chapbook is the Flamingo Park neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. The themes, for the most part, are love, death, joy—laughter and tears—the longstanding themes of lyric poetry.