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| Tassel --> | Dog's Sleep | Bath at Marian's Pond | Dialogue on Time
| More Tassel --> | Dog's Phylogeny | Dog's Digs | Tassel, the Centre-Poodle ]

Dog's Digs" refers to our miniature poodle, Tassel, in the days when we were living in a Madison Avenue apartment in Toronto. Tass was tireless in her investigation of the pattern of our Chinese carpet. She never found the answer -- but it is patience and perseverance that characterize the true researcher.

Dog's Digs

			dog is scratching at the carpet
			not aimless
			(how some think dog is)
			but working to a pattern

			working at the pattern
			as a matter of fact
			as a matter of faith
			methodical checking

			a professional dig
			leaves, branches, embossed nightingales
			so far they haven't budged
			but experience knows better

			persistence pays off
			bones eventually appear
			plates for licking clean
			hands to command pats from

			don't try it all in one day
			(not how time works)
			for little by little
			packed down however tight

			leaves are known to come loose
			old birdwings pop free
			can be carried in the mouth
			for piling by the sleepbox

			surprise those talldogs
			couldn't imagine
			patience now
			scratch for the starting point

			the slightest tip of a
			tiniest poke-up of
			just get the teeth on
			true there's no sign yet

			tomorrow try some more
			matter of a few days
			matter of the front door
			rattle rattle rat

			better go check