words
words
words
big or small, odd or ordinary
how many do you know
made of one or several letters
you can put them in a row

to make a question or a thought
asking, telling as a sentence ought

words
words
words
come in many forms
lots of vowels
or just one or two
a, e, i, o, or u

words
words
words
keeping track of how much they're used
every year they add a few
like this year's embiggen and mansplain
dumpster fire came along too

wanderworts, bandwidth, kambucha
schnoodle, chiweenie, yorkie-poo
cryptocurrency, bitcoin and welp
hate-watch, subtweet, glamping, too

here's my favorite of the eight hundred fifty -
not to make too much of a fuss -
but wordie's a great add to the dictionary
feels like it was put in just for us

We all know each other, if just from sound and sight
If brown, yellow, green or white
But sometimes its hard to tell even if their jeans are worn too tight

We all know whereabouts on the planet they were roughly born
If not from their clothes or a place now politically torn
But to have knowledge of a race with a history once scorned,

Its an ace card to hold when dipping your toes
Lets not get with a being who's past we all know
For war is a past, sometimes a crime, they'd just like to outgrow

A canine has no clue with who'm they may mate
As a mongrel is mongrel until they changed the label and date
A Labradoodle to a Cockerpoo and now even a Schnoodle
Its getting so confusing, well thank the Lord for Google!

Well we all have to have one thing and that is a label
Just let the dog be and lay underneath the kitchen table
Its becoming so confusing with how they are supposed to grow
Let nature take its course, I mean,

Does a dog even know?

JJB

Sammy the Schnoodle

You came with no warning, a bundle of curls,
Eyes wide with wonder, docked tail in soft swirls.
She handed you gently, then kissed me goodbye—
Duty called her, across desert sky.

I didn’t expect you, wasn’t quite sure.
A leash, a crate, *** on the floor.
But silence was heavy the moment she left,
And your little heart filled in the cleft.

We wandered the streets in the hush of the night,
Learning each other in dim porchlight.
You’d tilt your head like you understood,
Each broken thought, each mood, each “should.”

Endless walks down familiar roads,
You guarding my heart in quiet code.
Car rides like therapy, windows rolled down,
You made me smile when all felt drowned.

Then the day the bridge gave way to the sky,
Steel and screams, sirens that cry.
You sat by my side, unshaken, aware—
A grounding soul in thick, shaken air.

Through fear and rubble, through grief and the news,
You offered your silence, your nonjudging views.
No medal, no words, just your paw on my knee,
Reminding me gently, “You still have me.”

Seasons turned slow, then eighteen months gone,
She came back to find us, bonded and strong.
Not just a pet, but a part of my core,
The quiet teacher who opened the door.

Because of you, I learned how to stay,
To love without words, to show up each day.
You softened my edges, you taught me to bend,
Prepared me for fatherhood, friend to the end.

Now when I hold my child in the hush of the night,
I remember our walks, the streetlamp light.
Sammy the Schnoodle, unplanned but true—
The gift I didn’t know I needed was you.

© 2025 Shawn Oen. All rights reserved.