thanks, Doug, I see I named the wrong month - September, it should be of course.
Max
Rambunctious is a word never heard in Aus or NZ, I think,
but this Lab of ours calls the word forth constantly.
And I used to say lift but now say elevator,
like sidewalk for footpath...
On Sep 21, 2016, at 8:24, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> A solid narrative, Max. Interesting how it swerves to those end rhymes in the final 2 stanzas…
>
> Doug
>> On Sep 21, 2016, at 8:44 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Dogs’ Breakfast
>>
>> Mustering what strength lingers
>> at this extremity of age,
>> I clench and sit up, fingers
>> reach down for outdoor footwear
>> (velcro for quick fastening)
>> then bedside for spectacles.
>>
>> Yes, you two dogs, I’m hastening -
>> with you ahead - downstairs;
>> your meal of the day, whether
>> winter’s dark or summer’s early dawn,
>> must not be postponed further.
>>
>> The old boy lurches to his bowl,
>> shut behind the bathroom door;
>> the rambunctious girl Labrador
>> starts fast on hers lest he steal from
>> her hungry fellow-breakfaster.
>>
>> She’s ready first to take the leash
>> awaiting her at the front door.
>> I’m already in jacket and cap -
>> one hides pajamas, one bad hair.
>>
>> Trot to the elevator, trot hot-
>> foot through the lobby, trot
>> hot-foot through the tall metal
>> gates that clang behind us.
>>
>> Already we’re on the green verge:
>> here, an hour before, sprinklers
>> rinsed and kept it green, and
>> the line of dogwood trees stand
>> in dignity and fruitfulness.
>> Snaffle a fallen berry, must you?
>>
>> Dogwood by definition can’t
>> be poisonous, I guess. Back
>> to the lobby and lift, quick -
>> upstairs Senior waits his turn.
>> Changing of the guard, transferring
>> of the leash. Repetition.
>>
>> May we now relax? The blackest
>> crows of Bellevue Avenue East
>> resume their search for breakfast, hop
>> back down from tree and car top.
>>
>> Sunday breakfast glumly ensues.
>> What says the online world of news?
>> Natural and manmade disasters
>> compete, history rebukes, futures
>> are dire. At this extremity of time
>> man and dogs share a lucky home.
>>
>> Capitol Hill, Seattle, November 2016
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
> https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
>
> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations 2 (UofAPress).
> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
>
> Four or five couplets trying to dance
> into Persia. Who dances in Persia now?
>
> A magic carpet, a prayer mat, red.
> A knocked off head of somebody on her broken knees.
>
> Phyllis Webb
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