Bitch<\/font><\/p>\n <\/font>Now, when he and I meet, after all these years, <\/font><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bitch Now, when he and I meet, after all these years, I say to the bitch inside me, don’t start growling. He isn’t a trespasser anymore, Just an old acquaintance tipping his hat. My voice says, “Nice to see you,” As the bitch starts to bark hysterically. He isn’t an<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[62],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s1DIlZ-232","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindsaykeegan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindsaykeegan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindsaykeegan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindsaykeegan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindsaykeegan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lindsaykeegan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindsaykeegan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindsaykeegan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindsaykeegan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI say to the bitch inside me, don’t start growling.
\nHe isn’t a trespasser anymore,
\nJust an old acquaintance tipping his hat.
\nMy voice says, “Nice to see you,”
\nAs the bitch starts to bark hysterically.
\nHe isn’t an enemy now,
\nWhere are your manners, I say, as I say
\n“How are the children? They must be growing up.”
\nAt a kind word from him, a look like the old days,
\nThe bitch changes her tone; she begins to whimper.
\nShe wants to snuggle up to him, to cringe.
\nDown, girl! Keep your distance
\nOr I’ll give you a taste of the choke-chain.
\n“Fine, I’m just fine,” I tell him.
\nShe slobbers and grovels.
\nAfter all, I am her mistress. She is basically loyal.
\nIts just that she remembers how she came running
\nEach evening, when she heard his step;
\nHow she lay at his feet and looked up adoringly
\nThough he was absorbed in his paper;
\nOr, bored with her devotion, ordered her to the kitchen
\nUntil he was ready to play.
\nBut the small careless kindnesses
\nWhen he’d had a good day, or a couple of drinks,
\nCome back to her now, seem more important
\nThan the casual cruelties, the ultimate dismissal.
\n“It’s nice to know you’re doing so well,” I say.
\nHe couldn’t have taken you with him;
\nYou were too demonstrative, too clumsy,
\nNot like the well-groomed pets of his new friends.
\n“Give my regards to your wife,” I say. You gag
\nAs I drag you off by the scruff,
\nsaying, “Goodbye! Goodbye!”
\n<\/font>
\nCarolyn Kizer. 1971.<\/p>\n