an old one found while searching for Whistle Pigs
Strange Woman, Black Dog
*by Kenny A. Chaffin *
I think I’m having
trouble with language.
As we pass she hides her eyes
behind a floppy hat.
I ask to give
the dog a treat.
Her words are English
but they make no sense
as if the meaning is reversed
the sentence inside out
like the dog who seems
not a dog and not black
but a negative space absorbing
everything around him
tethered to her left hand
a black hole on a leash, smiling.
Each day now I pretend
I do not see them
but believe that somehow
I was sucked inside.
It’s the language
you see.
~ 2014
and another from my A Fleeting Existence collection
The Fall
by Kenny A. Chaffin
He lay broken at the bottom of the stairs
for three days before they found him.
The cats would rub against him
trying to get him to move –
even licking his face.
He’d broken his neck leaving him
unable to do anything but blink,
lick his lips, and swallow with difficulty.
