Let Pets Talk, for a Change

byHitesh Goenka

Poems

Animals — dogs especially — speak their minds about humans, pet life, and the curious business of belonging to someone.

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Overview

Dogs are everywhere — in our beds, our photographs, our Instagram feeds, our grief. But nobody asks them what they think of us. Hitesh Goenka's collection of poems fixes that oversight, giving voice to pets and animals who have, apparently, a great deal to say.

The poems move across species, though dogs dominate — because dogs, as Goenka notes, are everywhere and are watching everything. Animals speak about what it means to be somebody's pet, about what they would do if they could choose, about the humans they observe from eye level. Cultures are compared, habits are noted, absurdities are catalogued. The tone is light-hearted and the banter is the point: these are poems that trust their readers to enjoy themselves without requiring earnest interpretation.

For anyone who has ever attributed opinions to their pet and then thought — probably rightly — that they were onto something.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A book of poems not for the killjoys.

The one you hold in your hands

Is for souls who love light-hearted banters

On just about anything in life

Like cultures…

One culture looks at another

From a different point of view

And this can be funny at times.

These poems will tell you so

Only if you turn the pages.

The poet in this book makes

Pets and wannabe pets speak their minds,

Give their two cents on what it’s like

To be someone’s pet and what it would be like

If an animal wishes to become a pet.

The poems ride on the wishes and desires

Of several species of animals—

Dogs being the predominant voices.

Why?

They are everywhere.

Whether you are an animal person or not,

Nothing is stopping you from opening the book

And hearing how the animals are

Looking at the humans around them.

Pets have a lot to say…

Let’s hear them out!

~*~

Here is a collection of poems served hot and fresh right from the mouth of several, desperate animals trying to convey messages to their masters, guests, and society.

Pet lovers should be among the first to read this book…these verses would make them laugh, thinking of all the little things they might have missed hearing from their pets. But then, this book is for anyone who loves animals...

~*~

Author

Hitesh Goenka photo
Hitesh Goenka

Hitesh Goenka, living in Kolkata, India, is the author of Anything But This: Dealing with Migraine Sans Medicine, his nonfiction book on the neurological disease, migraine, published by Garuda Prakashan in May 2022. Little Angels Sing is his first collection of poems published by Ukiyoto in May 2022. Muse India, the literary e-journal, published a humorous essay written by him titled 'My Hairy Legs' in their Issue 108 (Mar-Apr 2023). Let Pets Talk, for a Change is his second collection of poems published by Garuda Prakashan in August 2024.

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