Feed the dog
You would see his dog
chained in the yard
its ribcage
a hollow pulse of hunger
its face a cowed rag of misery
When you are ten
adults have reasons
You go along with those reasons
hoping the world
is not the bedlam
your darkest fears proclaim
Like when you saw
on the butchers slab
the hooves and trotters
the severed heads
their over exposed eyes
blackened by the light
Then one day
you shout over the fence
Feed your dog
You don’t go away
even when he threatens and spits
You keep shouting Feed your dog
A small crowd forms
then a man in uniform arrives
Questions are asked
The dog is led away
Later a large hare
is hung in a butcher’s window
For an instant you think
it is a thin brown dog
You turn away
______________
Eric Ashforth