dog tree

a boy with two dogs the size of jelly beans
all wriggling in his hands.
he cups them as if the dogs were a toad
trying to maneuver themselves free 
of his clasp. he tells them to hold still
or they will fall from very high up.
they are pink & almost look edible.
the boy thinks of gummy worms &
wonders if there is someone whose 
job it is to dig them out of the ground.
the boy found the dogs somewhere he can't tell.
he doesn't think his mom will let
him keep them. he tells them stories about himself
that no one else as heard-- about 
how when he's hungry he digs onion grass
from the yard & chews on that instead &
how he wants to grow up to be a dragon. 
the dogs try to sleep
crying lightly to themselves.
they must have lost something
he thinks. he imagines a burning dog house
with dead dog parents. then he wonders
if he stole the dogs from their families 
if by plucking them from the grass
he took them away from everyone they loved.
you are going to love me like i love you 
he says which is what all of us have said.
the dogs lay on top of each other.
the boy wishes he were one of two 
instead of just one. 
he walks into the grass which
is growing thick & tall & full of mosquitoes.
he tells the dogs that he wants 
to show them everything
to be a good parent to them.
he feeds them chocolate nonpareils 
broken down into smaller pieces 
so that they'll fit in the dog's mouths.
they become the first dogs ever
to develop a tolerance for chocolate.
the boy searches the ground for quarters 
until he has enough to by potted plants 
at the market for spring. he tells the tiny dogs
to choose but they still have their eyes shut
so he picks three hyacinths.
he presses the dogs to the flowers 
& tells them to smell how sweet.
the dogs don't grow up. they stay jelly bean size 
& at night the boy puts them in a jar 
so that he can sleep. they scale the walls 
like insects. he wants dogs-
two of them because that's all a boy needs
are his dogs. boys & their dogs. dogs & their boys. 
the boy gets older & less patient 
he gives the dogs an ultimatum
that they have to grow up this week or
he will plant them in the dirt
with his flowers. the flowers mutter among themselves.
the dogs don't grow up & the boy tells himself
i will not cry i will not cry 
as he holds the dogs in his hands.
he must have done something wrong.
no. there must be something wrong with them.
when they sleep their little legs move
as if they're running
as if they're imagining themselves older.
the boy worries he dreams like that.
he doesn't want to be stuck like
his dogs. he follows through on his word
& uproots two hyacinths to bury the dogs
pressing them down like seeds. their whines get louder.
he hears them whining everywhere he goes
like the world has walls full of the animal's cries.
he says he is sorry but it doesn't help.
eventually he forgets he's supposed to be sad.
the boy finds other interest like
taking handfuls of grass & throwing them. 
from the pot grows a tiny bonsai-sized tree.
the boy considers throwing the tree out
or chopping it down. yes. chopping it down 
would show courage even if he had to use a steak knife
instead of an axe. 
just before he could start the tree start
to bloom with the faces of dogs
not just his dogs but all the dogs.
small pink tiny dogs ripening on the branches.
too late to stop them. he was going to have to 
apologize to all of them. he was going
to have to explain himself.
no he would tell them a different story.
he would say this was all on purpose.
the hyacinths chattered & the boy scowled.
he said shush.