#6: Listen to the Dog that Lies

A poem about a dog carcass found on the beach at the Mistaken Point ecological reserve while hiking.

Listen to the dog that lies

Upon the rocky beach, but not alive,
Its body cleansed of hide, and flesh, and eyes—
The dog is dead. Its still and silent bones shine.
Once it ran upon a deck and howled and whined
At whales that passed and sprayed clouds of brine.
And not a thought is thought—the dog has no mind.
Its dashes and shakes and darts and brakes
Distracted its eyes from the lethal wake
That wrecked the deck and mopped the dog away.