Our Dog

When we were kids

there was a bridge

running

over

a strange creek.

It was narrow, just

a series of stagnant

pools

full

of mosquitoes

and the occasional

copperhead.

We had decided

the bridge and the creek

were ours.

We staged wars on either side,

throwing the losers

head first into the muck.

 

Our parents never knew

what we did

out there

after school.

We were boys

sleeping under lean-tos,

in our version of house

(although we had no

wives).

 

My mother told me once

to be careful

because a neighbor

thought bears were prowling

the woods.

Trees were clawed,

marking territory.

 

This one time

the creek was

particularly full.

The pools

connected,

quietly

trickling under patches

of brush,

moving small dams

of leaves downstream

one

after

another.

Farther down

we heard a groan

deeper than

even our fathers

could have made.

It was a pained groan:

A lost dog

with metal shoes.

It was a big dog.

Its eyes were wild.

They flared

with

wildness.

And he looked

at us

with his wild eyes.

And we looked

at it

and its heavy head

sinking

passive

into the water.

It lapped up

gentle sums

of our creek.

 

We left,

went back to the

bridge

and thought

about it.

 

The dog,

we decided

was also ours

because it

was

beautiful

and strong.

 

We went back

to the dog

with the metal shoes

many times,

feeding it

our school lunches.

then one day

as we came back from

school

we saw the bridge,

it had collapsed,

slumping into the creek.

there was nothing

left,

just mosquitoes

and the occasional

copperhead.

Even the dog was gone,

although his metal shoes had stayed.

 

We decided then

that we would never

go back to the creek

with the broken bridge

half buried in the mud.

I spent that winter

alone

in my room

thinking about the dog

with the wild eyes.

I was afraid

nothing

could be that

beautiful

and strong

for long.

I was afraid

that the snow

would burry

all of it

In the creek

that was

ours.

Reviews

[MOON]

Beautiful storytelling, ominous yet a metaphor for life too.

[Michael S]

This was too good to read..I was overwhelmed with the emotions while reading this. Great write.
Thanks for sharing.