Their eyebrows’ evolution was especially for you.
You are their chosen study, and they spend their canine years
fathoming your every twitch. They know the flavour

of your mind. You teach them syllables. They sort them
through selective hearing. You think about moving
and their ears go isosceles. You pick up a lead and learn

how action and reaction result in decibels. You can’t walk
as fast as they can. You’re an anchor, dragging the fluke
of your feet. They have a city at the base of every sodden post.

Open the door for we do not have a proper notion of thumbs,
the dogs invisibly say. They know everything about you.
They know, most days, that the world is too confusing a place.

They know that you are prone to hiding away. They know
that without them, you probably wouldn’t go out. Their kindness
is in the relentless shedding of hair. Consider the relationship

between a dropped biscuit and the floor. This is the dog’s first law
of motion. They moonscape your garden, tally their claws
to your wooden floor. Each night you walk them under the stars.

You palm —the— soft shell of their heads.
They –reap
———the air
————-with their tails

 

 

*
From Magma 92, Ownership

 

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