Hooked - Nov. 19, 2025

it was Amber who awakened my heart

to turn from its blood-pumping duties

and guide me through a secret door

to a world I knew nothing about

my first dog, Amber, of eager face and

happy eyes full of innocence, optimism

and dumb radiant joy of a child,

hooked and reeled me in

I noticed in her passing, a paralysis

descended over me, those hooks,

so lovingly embedded while she lived

tore free and hurt and were slow to heal

that’s how it happened,

I discovered love in a dog,

from the ecstasy of her presence

to the agony of her absence

after that, I knew I always wanted

my heart to be full of hooks