Debora Short - . Evil Wears a Shock Collar

The animal growls menacingly
Continually lunging
Behind the invisible barrier
At my frightened
And blind chocolate lab

Hurrying to pack
This trips memory
I shiver in a
Ninety degree drive

Twenty hours round trip
Every other week
Living out of suitcases
Leaves me feeling disordered

I.N.T.J.s are seldom
Good captives…
The exception,
I am not

Reading to pass the time...
I am struck by:
“Never shall I forget those moments
that murdered my God
and my soul and turned my dreams into ashes.”

I think of the neighbor
Who electrifies
His yard to keep in
A rottweiler

And shoots at
Nutrias with a bb gun
For entertainment

And then, I understand
A bit better
Wiesel’s “Night”*


~ May 31,2006
Somewhere in the Smokies

published:
www.abovegroundtesting.com July 2006

Debora Short

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/evil-wears-a-shock-collar/