Following The Dog

from Out With Lanterns, a daily poetry practice

Everything is spirit. Tree, flower, bird, rain,
sky. This body is just bluster, a temporary 
carnival ride blessed with taste buds.
My dog’s toes smell like popcorn and 
if I didn’t know better I’d nibble on them,
add a dash of salt. Her body is just a vessel
too, but she gets four legs and unquenchable
desire for love, food, connection, sleep, running
until she can’t anymore. I have those afflictions
as well–but I’m not as brave as her in the taking.
I am still learning, trying with my two legs 
and overly active mind, to run, to revel 
in each day’s rising sun, in the taste of warm
bread, hot coffee. Every day I try and fail 
to follow her lead, and tomorrow 
she will surely, patiently, show me again.