It Still Bothers Me - July 9, 2026

with his dog circling,

the man began shaking

a small bottlebrush tree

while a roadrunner, its toes

locked on an upper branch,

held on with the violence

as I approached, he looked at me

with excited eyes,

I want to see it run

as I said, Oh,

watched for a moment

then continued

not speaking up

that morning years ago

and quietly walking away

still sits somewhere

in the pit of my stomach

a lump of indigestible silence