boy and dog

long happy tongue reaches face 

blonde summer curls cradle cringing smile 

eyes confident in this affection 

this love 

not easily deterred 

pressing forward 

opening heart 

getting full attention 

lungs full of safe air 

lucky air of inseparability 

 

a hot day in June

parrot preens a shopper’s 

shoulder (truly) blue jay fast past the glass 

doors turtle natures golf cart 

path orange cat slows 

sidewalk killdeer laughing up the 

sky rabbit tentative sniffs 

grass robin hops lawn in search 

of crow high up calls 

tree Irish setter out for happy walk such a good 

dog small grey goslings dot green shore with father and 

mother sparrow winging into 

wind 

such summertime sights 

event

hard to plumb what 

kind of wind it took to crack 

pine tree in the corner 

twelve feet up 

so that the top fell on top 

of the giant cedars growing just behind 

arms extended to hold up the toppled tip 

a wind that wrests anxious hearts 

out of kilter and 

squints eyes with dust 

that makes it hard to think of anything else 

except for what a volatile violent world 

we inhabit here in the middle of a continent