Kibble
 
The co-hosts of the book club
just this evening have decreed
we must abide by new rules
on the chitchat we don’t need.
 
So no more tales of Rosie
greeting humans with her toys.
And no more talk of Zeke who
barks these days at every noise.
 
We’ll hear no word of Maxim
whose been gnawing on his lead.
It’s time to put our focus on
the book we didn’t read.
 
Then whither Zeke and Rosie
and what of Maxim’s teeth?
What price is paid as we extract
deep meaning from beneath?
 
A tree falls in the forest.
The shoe that fits is worn.
And while we talk of mice and men
the doggy tales are gone.
 
Now there will be no shortage
of pundits and of wits,
but Max’ and Zeke’s and Rosie’s lives-
just kibble mixed with bits.

~

For the past three years I have been published annually in the Redwood Writers poetry anthology.  I have also been published in  Truth Serum, Pure Slush and have a poem in Gnashing Teeth’s Heat the Grease.  In 2020 I was selected an Award of Merit poet for Redwood Writers.

I have Masters Degrees in Public Administration and the Psychology of Health Education, training which I regularly overcome. In 2013 I retired early from my position as Director of Housing for the Santa Clara County Housing Authority  when I became unable to work due to what was eventually diagnosed as Lyme Disease. Poetry has provided a focus and a means of connection through these past years of protracted discovery and recovery.  I started by taking classes at the local community college and then joined two local critique groups, Fran Claggett’s Blue Moon Salon and the Horsewomen (as in Apocalypse).  I owe so much to these generous and warm-hearted  fellow poets who have supported my development and routinely forgiven my frequent forays into rhyme.