LOST WHIPPET

posters on every tree
white paper labeling the firs and pines
reward
$500
lost female whippet
in the Silver Creek area

a woven green blanket
and plastic container of water
aside the path
the old woman last saw her dog

Hellon
the picture at face level
from trees near the path
in the park
the school yard
community post
on the entrance to logging roads

dried bones nestled in a new sprig of Oregon grape surely too old and clean to be the small dog though its been gone a month she comes every day to the blanket fills new water and sits a while amazing how much spirit we can put into a simple animal and vice versa

THE SCORE

in this time of global warming
words are insufficient
the immensity
we live in
so vastly beyond us
we who puff our chests out
wax about great achievements
as though we understand great
immerse ourselves in small-mindedness
the score of a game
who has dumped who
celebrity and cars
lawns
sharia law
papal decrees
tuxedos and costumes for every occasion
politics
professional wrestling
degrees and careers
memorized scriptures
sales and discounts

we are capable of more
we are the only species
that wonders
invents
cries for others who we don't even know

we are the only species
to conceive
respect
compassion
to contemplate
the future
our own death
the meaning of existence
where it all came from

yet
we bomb others
destroy our oceans
and forests
stumble over what to do with the sewage and garbage we create
and sexualize our young

fortunately

we are also able to hope

---

Return to CONTENTS