A Dog Runs Here
Brenna Manel
So, to compare
the running through trees, the walking of dog,
the milking of cows or other standards of being
in living here, seeing the pines holding thick ice
for days, the cows as Shetlands, standing and curling their horns
a dog curling his tale and knowingÂ
best how to be
the one flinging his harness, chasing the birds
across the trenches of fields, and here
one might compare the walking of dogs
where we used to live,
down the sidewalk to meet
with strangers outside cafes,
dogs who linger, some tied to living
for the one they are waiting to stand
before them, done wih thier buiness
and ready to play
that is to compare the days and hours we spend
in rual traipsing and sloshing, in doing such singing
and dancing as we do togetherÂ
is to compare our hind legs
spread out in stretches in both places
matching ourselves together in classes.
gong our separate ways in cases of luck or proximity
as animals do-now take the hound away from the city
away from the chaos, so away with pretention-
gather in chasef-a flash up the hillside
where a wolf, fox and possible lion
might sit on its hauncjhes
viewing the land, the chance of grasping a life
free in southern New Hampshire
as dog on a run
pleasing no one but his own mind.