Dogs Are Not Silly Putty
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You can’t mash a dog into a plastic pancake with the palm of your hand
And press it to the Sunday comics
And make a copy of The Phantom on a jungle path.
You can’t squeeze a dog into a tight, smooth orb of kinetic mischief
And bounce it insanely off the kitchen cabinets
Risking breakage.
You can’t put a dog in your pocket —
Well, not most dogs and most pockets —
And take it to school,
Secret from the teachers,
A treasure to see you through
An hour of multiplication tables.
Still, I’d rather have a dog than Silly Putty.
