Yoko by Thomas Gunn

"At last deep in the stairwell I hear a tread,
it is him, my leader, my love.
I run to the door and listen to his approach.
Now I can smell him, what a good man he is,
I love it when he has the sweat of work on him,
as he enters I yodel with happiness,
I throw my body up against his,
I try to lick his lips,
I care about him more than anything."

Yoko is a poem about love, friendship, admiration and the sacred relationship among a dog and his/her master. Dogs have been around for years, the weird connection that they created with humans throughout the evolution can never be fully understood. What Tomas Gunn tries to do here is explain that, what I consider 'divine', relationship through the dogs perspective. I think that he does that masterfully. The author tries to explain the support and acceptance of the dog towards his master: "I love it when he has the sweat of work on him", a normal human being would not like the smell of sweat of the others, if it were his wife she would probably make him shower and remove that sweaty self out of him...but not his dog no. He loves it because it's a part of him, and the dog loves him. "Here on a garbage can at the bottom, so interesting,

what sister or brother I wonder left this message I sniff.
I too piss there, and go on." Gunn must be a real dog person, I love the way he explains the pissing nature of dogs in forms of messages. The extend to which the dog loves you is explained here too: "Joy, joy,
being outside with you, active, investigating it all,
with bowels emptied, feeling your approval" The way dogs feel joy makes the owner even happier, it's like you can see the smiles on their hairy faces when they're with the master. The joy they feel when they feel the master's approval and the way that he will protect you for life and stand with you braced against the wind.