From my new novel, Listo Love:

I love Pit Bulls for the hell they can endure.

All of that hell that I knew was inside them was what I needed for my own medicine. My past Pits could sustain hell with the might from their solid shoulders. All of their pain, I challenged with my own ugly horror story. The streets, the Marine Corps, the war, life itself. Listo, I pushed them to their limits, and in doing so, I released all my hell unto them.

It was an unfair fight.

They were with me in all my torture and never left my side. Sometimes in his solitude or for no particular purpose, Diamond, my Pit before you, Listo, would stand out in our little outside courtyard and howl, simply howl harder than any wolf. He howled for the bull horns, the soul horns—if I turned on certain soul oldie songs, like “You Played the Part of a Loser,” he would convulse in howls. I would yell at him to shut up, but he never said that to me when I howled!

It was an unfair fight.

No, it was an exorcism. The devil inside me fought inside the worst hell of myself.

Red Devil versus Red Nose Pit Bull.

Diamond, with a white diamond birthmark tatooed in the middle of his forehead, howled and could not be comforted, yet I was comforted by knowing and feeling someone suffering with me.

After he died, he took that devil that was inside of me and dragged it down to hell and continued the fight there, that Pit place that is both heaven and hell: Paradise to be in the fight.

It was an exorcism—my ugly spirit I transmuted unto him. When he died, he took something beautiful and horrible with him, and it was only then that I realized and truly understood that he had saved my life.

Diamond shines bright in the center of the savage sun.

Listo, that’s why I’m different with you. I learned from them, Mincho and Diamond, my past Pit Bulls. I learned from all of my own suffering and sin. They taught me the Gameness of unconditional amor, so that’s why I want only the best, most beautiful things for you exactly as you are.

It’s my turn to be Game for you.