WALKING THE DOG

I fumble with the collar, hands shaking.

The eagerness of the dog is my friend.

Down familiar streets,

I try to walk with my relationship around my ankles.

The dog shows me around.

Today the maple leaves have curled into crowns,

A hummer preens on the highest twig,

Puddles collect a flow of glimpses from the garden.

Tomorrow joins yesterday in retreat, Now wins the day.

And just in time.

My face tightened with pain, my heart shrunk, my ears burned

From the harshness of minutes before

In the past, where I am from.

I would despair

Were I not here

Now.

pubbed in UMM Binnacle Ultrashorts 2016

Fresh Start

He dumped you; hard.  You decorated his smell out of the apartment.

Later, as you chased a rag up and down the new heron-leg stools and along the front of the Uba Tooba counter; as you polished the rubber plant; gave the prayer rug a shake; combed the sand on the end table with a tiny rake;  artfully managed not to disturb the bonsai or knock the crystals from advantageous points in the high corners while you dusted;