Today's poem is by Brad Davis

It's Complicated
       

We've neighbors I've never seen who
have two dogs. I only know this
because every time the neighbor
lets them out to take shits,
he feels he needs to yell their names

over and over to get them to quit
our two yards' wooded boundary
and come in. I'd mention the dogs' names,
but if he found out I told you
about them and how he carries on,

I worry his political yard-signs could
animate, become physically threatening.
Some days, especially those
when his yelling at them turns profane,
I worry for the child whose sweet voice is

an apple petal on a turbulent sea.
The only name the neighbor calls the child
is "Buddy," but as it's what he'll call
a dog when trying to be nice,
I suspect Buddy's not the child's name either.

A while back I think I passed the neighbor
walking one of his dogs on our road.
More like I saw a dog walking a man.
Thought then about the child, too. Couldn't help it.
Chose not to pull over and introduce myself.

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Copyright © 2024 Brad Davis All rights reserved
from On the Way to Putnam
Grayson Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission