Creative Corner: Never Just a Dog

By Olivia Obringer, Michigan State University

Never just a dog

don’t worry so much

it’s just a dog

don’t spend all that money

it’s just a dog

it doesn’t need medicine

or expensive kibble

remember

it’s just a dog

But I never saw just a dog

Every day, I would hear your nails click clack on the hardwood floors as you turned the

corner

You appeared, and I saw your happy wagging tail

I could always count on you being happy to see me

happy I existed

I saw your soft blonde fur, a little wavy after you would wade in the muddy water, a lot all

over my floors

I saw your floppy ears

Did you know there’s violets named after them?

someone else must have loved the shape as much as I do

I saw your pink nose

the perfect nose to tap with my index finger

I saw your smiley Labrador face, so wide your molars showed

and lastly,

I saw your chocolate eyes, bright and lively, the white spot twinkling like the north star on

the blackest of nights

you were

-and still are-

a glimpse of my childhood

a confidant

a pillow to cry on

the best listener

my forever friend

and certainly not,

just a dog

-Moscow Mules Poetry by Olivia Obringer