Poem: A woman crossed the road
August 14, 2021
A woman crossed the road when she saw my Staffy and I wanted to call out she’s a honey! she only bites her food, and she loves to lie on her back, let the sun delve into her belly, and when I watch her, I feel happy, almost as happy as when she sees me, and her tail wags her body, but I could not help but feel punctured by the woman equating this dear dog with violence, I could not help feeling anger, and realised she had turned one part of me into a poor imitation of how she sees Staffies, for I felt like chasing her, shaking the nonsense out, out of her head, and instead I reached down, and patted the keg of a dog that she had spurned just because dog-she carries a sad history written by some thoughtless people upon her plump body and her muscled breed. She wagged her tail, oblivious. My lips stretched to a smile. PS Cottier
Pretty self explanatory, that poem. We’ve been in lockdown in Canberra for a couple of days now, and walking the dog is the only exercise worth doing.