a dog dies a heart hibernates time slows the world blackens then it shifts a dark shade of gray next week a lighter shade next week even lighter, shades so close in hue they’re indistinguishable from month to month until one day the sun breaks the night a heart awakens the clock says morning a tail wags

good verse will take you down to the end of the street and knock on a door you didn’t know was there or it might join another stanza, walk in the same direction except with a sudden turn, lose you some you’ll follow through a dark forest if it’s a guide you trust and a place you’re dying to see fantasy-type poetry can lift you off-planet to visit the moon, even hear the wisdom of stars my poems won’t take you that far mine come with a kind of mirror one can only jug

you know the old horse in the barn with the easy-to-reach oats in a bag, comfortable bed of hay refillable trough of fresh water and a view from the stall to the fenced acres it once ran, sometimes bound with the wish of escape, of freedom, now content to chew hay or wait for the sun to come ‘round, lock joints for a standing snooze or fold down for a deeper nap and then there’s Gracie on the sofa, who watches me approach, leash in hand lowers her head closes her eyes