The man gobbled up a plate of latik-laden kalamay
While his dog nibbled on its paw a bunch of garapata –
Those blood-suckers that kept on thriving
Despite the tons and tons of anti-flea powder
and lotion he had poured on the dog’s fur.
The man and his dog, together they bit,
they chewed with a clack and a click
from their bleeding teeth. When the man sneered
and its gums the dog bared, a passing geek
as if bewitched, couldn’t tell which was the beast.
The man raked the floor with his tongue
for the crumbs of latik that fell from his mouth;
the dog scoured its back for another bunch
of grape-colored bugs. And they bit and chewed
with the clack and the click of garapata and latik.
