Night Vision: A Poem
Part 2: Canis Lupus Familiaris — A Season of Strange Writing Competition
That black sky stretching overhead
is vast, unconquerable, all encompassing
when you’re close to the ground.
He trots through the night,
keeping eyes and ears and nose
alert to the signs of threat;
so many threats for
small creatures such as he.
He mostly stays close to the town
but not too close as to be noticed.
He mostly stays in the shadows,
although, sometimes, the man
at Jeds Store sees him skulking by.
Sometimes Jed feeds him
and then he doesn’t have to stay
out on the yellow lit streets for as long.
As he passes, he sees the lady’s
eyes staring
out her window in her house opposite
the shop, but she doesn’t see him.
She doesn’t see anyone in her own little world.
The men flick their cigarette butts to the sidewalk
and the younger men hustle
their liquor and drugs out into the parks and forests.
He…
