The Story of My People

I am sitting at the table and the days

Are falling warm onto the ground like strawberries;

If I reach out I can catch them, hold them

Almost warm as skin.

Kiss them, debate tasting them…but I have

Devoured them and remember them sweet.

A lion’s mane rests on my sandals

Scratching my toes. His breath is on my shins.

Tell me the story of your people.

There was Wyndigo the First, whom we found

In a suburban backyard off the Loop.

He walked the sidewalks, rode shotgun in the Sundance.

There was Baron the Golden who found us

Before the remaking of Memorial City

When it was sleepy and had a cafeteria and an Eckerd’s

And a pet store. He would climb into your lap;

Overspill the affections. There is Merlin the Peskie—

Our fairy of fur and roundness, whose snores

Are the stuff of long afternoons drifting at the edge of twilight.

There was Varda the Beautiful, whose midnight coat

Called the stars into her embrace. Her holt was the space

Between the computer and the desk

Or the bathtub when it thundered, or someone knocked.

And there is Arthur, who has come to learn

The litany of his new peoples.

A velvet paw covers one knees, a rough tongue.

Go then. Take a taste of the garden with you.

I breathe the flavor of strawberries across my tongue.

This is the story of my people.

Sharing today with The Sunday Muse and Poets United. Today is our second day with Arthur (or Wart), the new pup. He was an unexpected but not unwelcome discovery as part of yesterday's Operation Pets Alive! Clear the Shelter event. This would be him, sleeping in the car on the way home. Another car dog!! Also, I suspect he might be a water dog. Guess we'll find out the next time we're in Lake Jackson. :) Sorry for the dog-dog-dog post...my brain is pretty much set on Puppy right now. As in "Where is the puppy?" "What is he finding that I didn't think he'd be interested in?" "Oh yeah, I forgot the puppy yowl." 

Hope everyone is having a good week and finding inspiration, especially as the seasons sneak toward change. 

-- Chrissa