This poem is the third-place winner in the 2024 Vox Poetry Contest.
Dog Owner
by David Lee Garrison
My little mixed breed has it good.
She owns a house,
a yard, a car, a neighborhood
where man and mouse
converge in symbiotic bliss.
She pays no tax,
finds nothing in this world amiss
except for cats.
She loves me and considers love
to be her due.
If she’s the hand, I’m the glove.
She owns me too.
About the Poet: The poetry of David Lee Garrison, a retired professor of Spanish and Portuguese, has been published widely, read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac, and featured by Ted Kooser in his blog, American Life in Poetry. He won the Paul Laurence Dunbar Prize in 2009, and was named Ohio Poet of the Year in 2014. His most recent book is Light in the River (Dos Madres Press).
Read More from the 2024 Vox Poetry Contest