Real Dogs Don't Bite Prostitutes

[Jassy Melson]

I composed this over a period of a day and an evening. Could this be called a poem? or perhaps a prose poem? Or is it simply fragmented thoughts? Does this contain any merit at all?


Real Dogs Don't Bite Prostitutes

They don't urinate on fire hydrants,
slink on city streets or rummage in garbage cans.
Real dogs hold their heads erect
and they never walk with a hang-dog expression.
They don't allow their teeth to be brushed,
their rump wiped or a sweater slipped over them.
Real dogs don't emit odor or bark at nothing;
they dislike excessive petting
and being held in someone's lap.
They disdain learning a trick
and fetching a thrown stick.
Real dogs have a sense of dignity
and they are apt to snap at anyone
who violates their integrity.
They admire anyone who makes a living
on the street; they don't hate the police,
they simply have no use for them.
Real dogs are independent
and they resist being owned.
They will not eat Milk Bone dog biscuits
or Purina dog chow, and they will not drink
Chuck Wagon bottled water.
Most of all, real dogs will never bite
a child—unless the child molests the dog.
In that case, real dogs will provide
the proper punishment without harming the child.
Adults need not interfere. A real dog
possesses intelligence that surpasses
the dolphin. It doesn't talk
because it chooses not to speak.
Lastly, real dogs don't bite prostitutes.

[MANICHAEAN]

Jassy. I liked it. Seriously I did.

The only question I have though, relates to the last line, as I know different cultures have different perspectives, regards the merits or otherwise of canines and fallen angels.

The immediate aspects that come to my mind are:

"To be treated like a dog," which presumably means the dog respects the prostitute as on the same social status.

Ladies of the night invariably used to ply their trade under lamp posts and dogs have been known to develop an affinity for such objects.

Am I anywhere like getting warm?

[Jassy Melson]

You are exactly on the mark. I state before that line that dogs admire those who make a living on the street.

[Delta40]

I really feel this piece was really about real men. In that context I rather enjoyed it.

[Jassy Melson]

Yes, that is true. It would not have worked if I had used Real Men. Although I think this cannot be called a poem, I am growing rather fond of it, as I wasn't trying to write a poem anyway

[janardhan-Ann]

may be you will have to be more patient to find refined words,

[Jassy Melson]

I don't understand what "refined words" means.

[zoolane]

I don't understand what "refined words" means.

Polish up the words for example good could be brillant. Just edit and maybe found new words that flow better but have same mean.

[MANICHAEAN]

Perhaps Jassy "a chaste whore" might give it a bit of polish!

Stick to what you wrote.

It was good.

Sorry zoolane. My bad language again!

[YesNo]

The title drew me in and I wasn't disappointed in reading it. Nice job. If you don't think it is a "poem", just remove the line breaks and you have a "prose poem" or whatever. It is still worth reading and that is what counts.

I wonder what a real cat does?

[zoolane]

Perhaps Jassy "a chaste whore" might give it a bit of polish!

Stick to what you wrote.

It was good.

Sorry zoolane. My bad language again!

It fine just explain what word refined mean. I have heard and readed worst lanuage it my time.

[Jassy Melson]

I woluld rather stick with simple words than go the refined route.

[PrinceMyshkin]

There's an engaging carefree wit to most of this. I read it as a bit of a surrealist romp - until the last line which, for some reason, I thought was meant to be taken seriously; but if it was, I had a problem in that there was no way I could infer who does bite prostitutes and is therefore not a "real dog" (but then what is he or she?) or on what grounds was the author making this plea on behalf of prostitutes?

[Jassy Melson]

The "Real dogs don't bite prostitutes" reference goes back to the line about real dogs respecting people who live or work on the street. Prostitutes are just one type of those people.