Five Dogs By John Yamrus

 

The unforgettable experiences stated by John Yamrus in his latest book “Five Dogs” reveals heartfelt and loving emotions. Five dogs exemplify an incalculable level of proximity between humans and dogs. Scenes are unforgettable if imagined by one and have a great beauty. The memorable events shared by the author which he had experienced with MIKA, PHOEBE, ITO, ABBY and STELLA are heart-touching and quite heart-warming too. John’s book is divided into seven quadrants THE ZOOMIES, MIKA, PHOEBE AND ITO, ABBY, STELLA, OOGIE AND OPRAH. Each segment reflects light on the respective significant origins of all and reveals their cheerful doings, mischievous activities, and the remarkable bond with the author and Kathy. 

In THE ZOOMIES, the author mentions about zoomies which dogs do to release pent up energy and it is common to see. “my grandmother, who lived across the street, had a dog. why couldn’t we?”  This line expresses the immense craving of the author right from his childhood to have a puppy. The story fast forwards 30 years or more and here comes Mika (the first one). John and Kathy move into a new house inclusive of a front porch, a back yard white picket fence. They both go to the Amish family who bred dogs where one little dog breaks rank and comes to them out of a pack of puppies. This was their dog, Mika.

After some time, they both go to another Amish breeder but not to the same place. This breeder had an actual formal business going on, with outside runs for the dogs made of chain link fencing and a great big yard. They both planned for one dog so Phoebe was the final pick. For some time, Kathy holds Phoebe and from the other side of the yard a clunky awkward little pup lumbers across the grass. He had four brown paws and a brown face and little brown patches above his eyes, comes closer to them and smiled. Surprisingly, this one comes more closer to them and smiles again, and then falls asleep on the author’s shoes. Undoubtedly, I can say that this moment was the sweetest and most delightful in the whole book. John states, “i turned to the woman and said “how much if we got two?” Wow, so kind and generous of John and Kathy! I am impressed with their decision. So, this was how Phoebe and Ito comes into their life.

The story of Abby (the fourth one) is tragic. I can’t neither comment on that nor I can tell as it is mournful. It is really hard to find words for it. The fifth one, Stella, the biggest dog they ever had, almost five feet or more who seems to take the entire room when stretched out in a totally relaxed position.

Oogie’s story is stunning and different from others. Once John and Kathy take Phoebe for her final disease to a clinic outside of Philadelphia. There author meets Oogie for the first time a big white dog with a missing ear and half skull which looks like an old wound. The author writes the poem named and all the sick, perverted after coming back from the vet. The poem gets published and becomes popular so popular that he started getting emails of appreciation. This makes John think about composing a book of poems about dogs. The book ends up with a great astonishment which can’t be revealed here as I find it is a cynosure. To be honest I am attached to this book and I feel very sad by saying that the book ends up here.

This remarkable book “Five Dogs” seems to be more like a beautiful journey of John and Kathy with their dogs. In such a small book John has described so many events that captivate the reader. “Five Dogs” includes three charming and magnificent poems named my dogs, in dog obedience class…, and all the sick, perverted. I wish that this book could have more pages so that I might read more activities of Mika, Phoebe, Ito, Abby and Stella and ultimately imagine them to get a realistic experience of this book. From my side, there is a green signal to all the readers as the book is worth buying. 

In a career spanning more than 50 years as a working writer, John Yamrus has published 26 volumes of poetry, 2 novels, 3 volumes of non-fiction, and a children’s book. He has also had more than 2,000 poems published in magazines and anthologies around the world. Selections of his work have been translated into several languages, including Spanish, Swedish, French, Japanese, Italian, Romanian, Albanian, Estonian and Bengali. His poetry is taught in numerous colleges and universities.