It’s a good day to be a dog
just a dog, with a dog brain
blissfully unaware of red and blue tallies,
unburdened by disappointment,
indifferent to triggers or loud words,
unless someone is reaching for a leash.
It’s a good day to be a dog,
fearless, undaunted, exuberant,
ready for any future, any at all
confident that tomorrow will be
pretty much the same as today and
the hydrants will be in the same place
It’s a good day to be a dog
keeping dignity when the pit bull passes,
keeping calm when the cats tease,
looking neither left nor right but straight ahead,
putting one paw in front of the other,
tormented by nothing except maybe squirrels.
Gabriella Brand’s short stories, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Globe and Mail, Grand Little Things, Gyroscope Review, Red Wolf Journal, and more. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Gabriella teaches in the OLLI program at the University of Connecticut.