Iditarod Poem - The Dogs - A Parody on The Bells by Edgar Allen Poe

It's almost time for the Iditarod, and that means I suddenly get inspired to write epic poems about my obsession. Yesterday, after a friend wrote a parody of "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe, I got inspired to do a parody of Poe's "The Bells." So I present my first full-length Iditarod poem of 2010:

The Dogs
See the start gate with the dogs,
Eager dogs,
With the fans decked out in parkas from their Lands End catalogs.
See the waiting sled dogs jump
And their wagging tails thump
On the icy Willow Lake.
You can tell they’re really pumped,
As their harnesses they shake.
How they tug, tug, tug,
While the musher gives a hug
To each friend and family member
With advice and dialogs.
Oh the dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs,
Dogs, dogs, dogs,
Oh, the barking and the yipping of the dogs.

See the happy, running dogs,
Racing dogs,
Bounding over ice and tundra,
Through the blizzards and the fogs,
And the cold Alaska night.
How they bark out their delight.
Oh, the lovely howling sound,
All in tune,
While the wind blows all around
To the moon,
And the rippling Northern Lights,
A breathtaking Arctic sight,
As they run, run, run,
You can tell they’re having fun,
While the musher poles and jogs.
Oh, the dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs,
Dogs, dogs, dogs,
Oh the running and the pulling of the dogs

See the fans who follow dogs,
Husky dogs,
While they doublecheck the tracker
And the many mushing blogs,
As they click, click, click,
Checking out their top ten picks,
And their eyelids start to droop
After chatting with the group.
There’s the Anchorage Daily News
And the awesome Mushing Loon,
Sled Dog Central and the Nome cam and Backstage Iditarod,
Iditarod Insider and of course Iditablog.
But the BSSD Forum is the best website of all.
Oh the dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs,
Dogs, dogs, dogs,
Oh the rooting and the cheering for the dogs.

See Nome city with the dogs,
Winning dogs,
As they start to run down Front Street while the musher gees and haws.
Ah, the cheering of the crowd
Makes the winning musher proud.
Hear them bark, bark, bark
Underneath the burled arch.
Panting tongues and icy noses.
They just ran across Alaska.
No one did it any faster.
So the happy musher poses,
As they wear the wreath of roses,
Giving love and fond affection to their dogs.
Oh, the dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs,
Dogs, dogs, dogs,
So amazing, so inspiring,
Oh the dogs.