Dogs are natural scavengers
They have the stomach for it
I remember Beth swallowed some
decaying squirrel whole
Its tail hanging out of her mouth
for the longest time
Nothing ever became of it
I always wondered where the deer went
when they died
The forest was always
a pantheistic land of wonder
As the snow tickled our noses
Lexi was nowhere to be found
I laughed it off and yelled for her
Then yelled and yelled
Then ran and abruptly stopped
Lexi tenderly edging toward the deer carcass
Shy even
Then the bump on the bridge of her nose appeared
A couple months later,
in an unusual spring heat
Lexi leaves the trail
With a straightforward earnestness
We walk an unfamiliar side–path
Cross an undiscovered stream
Another carcass prone to the sun
A vulture crouched in an adjacent tree
Impatient for our departure
The bump on her head reappeared at the top
Lexi was given two months to live
And, at that other river,
Her jaw too weak to grip
the large branches so much a part of her
This third carcass
Peaceful, laying amid the thorns
One does not begrudge one condemned to death
to take their fill of death
Not one lick of impropriety
We filled our days with walks
We denied ourselves none of our walks
We partook
Peace
Tag: Lexi
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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 againNight 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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We cross the bridge
and the water there is perfect,
wide and deep
with a soft beach for entry
Cast, cast, cast
Swim, swim, swim
Fetch, fetch, fetch
While Lexi furtively fetches
I lean upon the rusting railing in repose
After a fetch, I calmly gaze upon a pair of yellow–winged butterflies
Hip, hop, hip, hop, along the beach
One flutters a foot; the other follows
Then, stillness; their wings parallel, vertical
The moment holds its breath
while still calmly breathing
easy, like the gentle breeze that crowns us
Wings open
Her wings open in one majestic bloom
neither slow nor fast
not confident or timid
but all those things and none
such she unfolds her world to him
He gazes upon her pattern
while another epoch quietly breathes withheld breath
He pounces upon her
Her wings fly up, a Venus encircling him
My heart exalts that such ravishing peace could exist in the world
My brain, dizzy, torn asunder
How long, I wonder,
could this incredible little bliss be permitted to exist
I pause, grateful for each second
as Lexi pleads for another fetch
Lest she bark, I contrive to throw the branch over the other side
But, upon my first movement, she careens down the sand into the water
He disappears
She hops from one rock to the other and back to their love-patch
in despair, love–lost.
In a fortunate bizarre twist,
Lexi goes under the bridge and up the other side
Lady butterfly hops
I wait, another epoch
Just a half epoch
He comes from nowhere
and, instantly, they rejoin in their double–V
Down the path we go, to leave them to the delight of the world
I have to laugh at myself for thinking 30 minutes enough for eternity
for, when we double–back later
and I've promised Lexi a proper romp in the perfect water,
I realize that she’s disturbed them againLittle Time for a Little Love
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