It’s a pleasant night
First one in a while
I haven’t taken Lexi fetching
for a while either — overworked
So, instead of taking a right
we take a why not
Can’t see a moon to light our way
but the suburb lights reflect in the pink clouds
Park closed at dark
Park Authority
I’ll tell them I didn’t see
I don’t even know if she’ll want to fetch
She’s all sniffs
I let her off leash —
no running to the stream
As we pass it by
She shyly deviates tween
path and brook
Only when I go off–path
does her tail wag
and her feet scamper to water
I᾿m surprised to find the stream half–frozen
a sheet of ice spreads towards the middle
No sticks around, so I climb onto the tree
fallen across the stream
and fetch one there amidst the debris
Will she need daylight to see
or is it some other sense?
I throw it into the stream
and she fetches it back
I throw it in again; she’s taking a while
she needs daylight, I guess
Here comes Lexi dragging this
mythical log
Strange, pure, hewn branch
from the river bottom
Not waterlogged, just heavy in solidity
She can’t even drag it out of the water
just up to the shore
and tears off half its bark in one bite
So, over and over, mythical log
to be dredged from the bottom
of icy river on beautiful night
Headlights peek at me for a while and fade
an ambulance siren blares
a police copter circles around
Mocking my fears — no one cares
Lexi scampers around the sheet of ice
not finding the branch in the depths
“Get it!” I cheer, and she goes in and drags it out again
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Night Fetching
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Sticks are too small to waste her time with Only branches will do I break a nice big one down to 5 feet we walk down to the stream We could go on and on forever casting and fetching I throw it out beyond the bend she stops as she approaches it her face all perplexity and looks into the water just under her With a strange backward digging effort she thrashes dives her head into the water and exhumes a waterlogged 12–foot branch With glee, she trots back with it Sometimes, she’ll voraciously chew up an over–sized log dredged from the depths biting away in continuous joy and concentrated angst with the occasional bit of wood wedged in her teeth Sometimes, she’ll disintegrate the whole thing to shreds This time, we cast and fetch over and over a rainbow in each splash Too big for us to carry away in comfort
Waterlogged
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Not everyone needs to be overwhelmed by thunder and lightening Something tender and familiar strong but approachable We wink at one another and smile at how crafty such a powerful being in love is Considerate, rather
Jupiter and Io
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