PAD Day 29: Writer's Block and an Old Dog

Today's prompts from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo: (1) Write a poem with the title "Total ______", and (2) write a "paean toyour pet". I didn't combine the prompts today, so I have two poems to offer. As for the first, I thought "Total Blank" was already a great title, so I wrote a triolet with that title:

Total Blank

I want to write but draw a total blank.

My mind's on hold; my inspiration's shot.

My muse plays hide-and-seek - a cruel prank!

I want to write but draw a total blank.

I rummage my vocabulary bank -

A doodle in the margin's all I've got.

I want to write but draw - a total blank.

My mind's on hold; my inspiration's shot.

Regarding the second, I've always been a dog lover, and had family dogs off and on from the time I was very little until I went off to college, but never since, until about a year ago when we adopted a dog from a friend who was no longer able to care for her. We had known the dog for years, and she is one of the gentlest, sweetest dogs we've ever met, but she is now quite old. Still, she has some spunk left in her, as this poem, written in tanka form, relates. (It's not quite a "paean", but it will do.)

World's Oldest Puppy

all of sixteen years

she's a centenarian

by human measure

totally deaf and half-blind

sleeping through most of the day

yet her head perks up

anytime the door opens

and she stands up straight

or straight as old hips allow -

watches me through clouded eyes

I put on my coat

and she scampers for the door

with metronome tail

then bounds down the two front steps

seeking some new adventure