What My Dog Knows
       

is how the smell of shampoo
means I'm going out,
and the blow dryer
means without her.

She still asks
with her butterfly ears
wide open.

She is pine-scented
from yesterday's bath,
brushed, ready
to go if I want her,

trot to the lake and roll
in something rotten
as soon as I turn my back.

She's small but loves to bark
at all the big dogs in the park,
slip her collar
and lunge for their throats.

If I would only
take her,
and let her.

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Copyright © 2022 Nancy Takacs All rights reserved
from Dearest Water
Mayapple Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission