by Howie Good
The war has entered
its second decade.
Maddened by the futility,
the dogs run away.
Few people seem to notice
that they’re gone.
Three times a day,
if not more,
their former owners
take empty leashes
out for a walk.
Just this morning
the old widow stopped
to let a polite little boy
on his way to school
bend down and
scratch behind the ears
of what wasn’t there.
Howie Good, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is the author of six poetry chapbooks, most recently Tomorrowland (2008) from Achilles Chapbooks. He has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize and twice for the Best of the Net anthology.
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