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This is just some interesting tidbits of poetry, quotes, etc. that served as some little inspirations, or were things I noticed as I was writing The White Dog and found they could apply. Read to see some of the faint musings of how they relate to my writing.

"If anything ever happens to time again
let's crawl where we did that night in the cave
when both of us heard a star go by so still
that a crystal formed in our lives. Let's climb
that cavern the same slope as the hill but under
the hill, thus having the world as it is but also shaped our way...
...Don't answer me now, it's too early; but listen--
I'm just talking about this, but see
what you think, later, when you have time:
we could stand there together and hear day coming,
and we could be neutral but welcome what came.
We could bow and hear the far-off world
that we knew, going away."
--William Stafford, "Something I Was Thinking About"

This poem reminded me of the first few chapters of TWD--the cave adventure, when Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship began to teeter on the edge of change...or did a change happen then? This poem's kind of disjointed, but if you read it aloud and carefully, it begins to make sense.

"I rock high in the oak--secure, big branches--
at home while darkness comes. It gets lonely up here
as lights needle forth below, through airy space.
...noises drift up, and a faint
smooth gush of air through leaves, cool evening
moving out over the earth. Our town leans farther
away, and I ride through the arch toward midnight,
holding on, listening, hearing deep roots grow...
...There are rooms in a life, apart from others, rich
with whatever happens, a glimpse of moon, a breeze.
You who come years from now to this brief spell
of nothing that was mine: the open, slow passing
of time was a gift going by. I have put my hand out
on the mane of the wind, like this, to give it to you."
--William Stafford, "Little Rooms"

This one makes me picture Inuyasha being broody in a tree, staring off into nothing, perplexed about the future and the past...

Oh quiet animal, sleeping,
What dreams lie within your cells?
What ages brought you here
Through coal and ice?
Eye twitch, lip curl--
Blood dreams again.

Blood is always dreaming,
Scheming to move us forward and take us back,
Dreaming the dark places,
Caves and the backs of stars.

Your ivory bones are the tusks of time
Who eats with all our mouths.
That crescent moon? It's just a bone
Thrown beyond our reach.
The stars at night were someone's baby teeth.

The blood remembers
What the mind forgets.
The soul is a quiet animal.
Given less to thought than memory,
More to dreams than plan,
The soul owes more to half-remembered God
Than waking life as man.
--Julia Cameron, "The Quiet Animal"

What does our blood make us? Even if we are all human, we are all still wild on the inside. Inuyasha's demon blood just brings that inner heart to the outside, giving it form and action, painting his features with wildness.

"...he advances...his wet nose screening a hundred scents for that one scent...which gives life and meaning to the whole landscape."
--Aldo Leopold

How desperately, impatiently Inuyasha waits for Kagome! When she's gone he is on edge, constantly alert, searching, even in sleep, for that single, pure, gentle scent that lets him know she's back.

"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about little puppies."
--Gene Hill

This one just made me laugh.

"There is a wolf in me...fangs pointed for tearing gashes...a red tongue for raw meat...and the hot lapping of blood--I keep this wolf because the wilderness gave it to me and the wilderness will not let it go."
--Carl Sandburg, "Wilderness"

Like the Quiet Animal poem, this looks at the inside of Inuyasha...that other half of him that makes him edge toward dangerousness, toward the wild animal just under the surface.

"And when, on the still cold nights, he pointed his nose at a star and howled long and wolflike, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him."
--Jack London, "Call of the Wild"

Just a random thought. Applied to Inuyasha in TWD, the great White Wolves that are his ancestors grant him their blood and power...and perhaps we hear them in his voice when he howls in the depths of the woods, singing to the night...

"On the ragged edge of the world I'll roam,
And the home of the Wolf will be my home."
--Robert Service

Besides Inuyasha, this could be a Kouga or Shirokiba one. Just kinda makes you think.

"At daybreak I roam
Ready to tear up the world;
Shivers coming up my spine,
Awake to who is following,
Eyes in the back of my head;
I roam."
--Native American song

Inuyasha on the prowl for a Jewel shard? Maybe.

"Real wolves are slender, invincibly aristocratic-looking. They have disarmingly sweet faces!

They are slender all over and as sinuous and graceful as cats. Bodies are long, and carried high on long legs. Paws and legs are unlike those of dogs. Legs are twined "nervously" with veins and sinews. (By nervous I mean innervated, alive and sensitive all over.) Paws are nervous too--not mere clumps like most dog paws, but long-fingered and spreading.

Beside a wolf, the most graceful dog looks wooden. Wolves seem to have a fineness and delicacy of articulation lost to dogs through centuries of breeding. In motion they ripple, they flow. Even in walking, the spine has a slight sideways ripple.

And how wolves leap! Lifting leaps--straight up, all bushy and flowing, to the tip of the tail. Straight down. That is their way of participating in gaiety. They leap upward as if pulled at the shoulders by a skyhook. Or they leap perpendicular, standing straight up in the air; that is the "observation leap." They leap sideways. They leap backward. They twirl into a doughnut in midair and wind up the incredible act with a flourish--chest to ground, paws spread, and an inimitable, flashing wolf-toss of the head. Heads too are slender, long."
--Lois Crisler, "Arctic Wild"

Here's something for the Kouga fans! Besides the wolf-demons, Inuyasha shares a bit of this too, especially in Dog form. Nicely "living" descriptions, even if they aren't poetic.

"Wolves are not like dogs, you know. A dog father knows not his own children. A wolf marries and he and his wife live always together until death. When children come, he hunts for them, and brings food for them, and watches over them faithfully while the mother goes out to hunt and run around and keep up her strength. Ah, they are wise, true-hearted animals, the big wolves of the plains."
--Red Eagle, Blackfoot warrior

I think this one goes out to Seibunishi. Great old fellow--a warrior, husband, and father just like the Wolf.

"A mountain with a wolf on it stands a little taller."
--Edward Hoegland

Wolf pride! Here's one for Kouga!

The basis for friendship is
community of interest. Wolves
mate for life.

Yet they call our families "packs"
like decks of cards.
A communard who knows

how to have a good time with others,
I object to this moniker
of shuffling beast. It's true

that the only way to eat
is ultimately to rip something apart,
but you can't swallow

with your eyes and besides,
we wolves have big hearts:
We are gentle, bright,

and penultimately kind.
Survival rules
but after that comes conviviality!

A wolf attack on a moose
is no worse
than the conventions

of nations,
or the strategies
of most political parties.
--Richard Grossman, "The Animals"

Here's another for Kouga; he and his Pack might look at it this way. They may be demons, but they are still Wolves.

"Beauty without Vanity;
Strength without Insolence;
Courage without Ferocity."
--George Noel Gordon, Lord Byron

I dunno...this just seemed kinda poetic. I think it's on a monument somewhere.

"At the end of the day, when the fire crackles and the ice tinkles in the glass, the dog lies at his master's side. All sins and shortcomings--both of man and dog--are mutually forgiven, because tomorrow is another day."
--Aaron Fraser Pass

This kind of made me think about Inuyasha and Kagome, and how they manage to tolerate each other through the manga sometimes. And in TWD, the night after they had those fights, and things began to change between them.

"The hunting partnership between man and dog developed thousands of years ago and from it came a deep bond of affection. I suspect this was the dog's idea."
--Aaron Fraser Pass

Here's another one that's just kinda funny. Especially if you think about dog-demons.

"A good dog never dies, he always stays, he walks beside you on crisp autumn days when frost is on the fields and winter's drawing near, his head is within our hand in his old way."
--Mary Carolyn Davies

Poetic...makes you sigh...I just stuck it in here for the heck of it. Doesn't really apply...or does it?

"A dog is the one thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."
--Josh Billings

Ah, my favorite! This is so true of dogs, how they give everything for their families--love, protection, warmth, food. This could be true of Inuyasha, too! I wonder if Rumiko Takahashi chose for him to be a dog for this reason. A dog is the image of courage, loyalty, and strength. Inuyasha has already shown us his faithfulness in protecting Kagome, his unswerving devotion to her and their cause. He stands fearlessly before those who would harm her, utterly determined to defend her and his friends; he amazes his opponents with his tenacity and strength. Even if his human side causes him to waver in indecision during difficult times, I think his dog-demon blood is a blessing in disguise--honor, courage, loyalty, and love are all deeply rooted within him.

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