of dog & chipmunk

“It often happens that a man is more humanely related to a cat or dog than to any human being.” ~Henry David Thoreau

the fluffy combo of yellow lab &

something else that

you just can’t put your finger on

(let’s say 80% of the prior & 20% of the latter)---

he sits at the sliding-glass door,

poised to pounce---

ironically in that same fashion which his

sworn adversary might

when confronted with a

mouse.

 

outside the door,

on the other side of the clear pane,

sits the

chipmunk.

 

it scurries along the wooden floor of the deck

with its brown & black stripes---

it pauses to smirk at the dog,

who now, closer than ever to the glass,

loses his sense of control.

 

the dog forgets the last time that he went diving into the

glass when trying to catch this

chipmunk

(whose only purpose in life seems to be the torment of this dog),

with his body shaking in anticipation & at a

loss

when it comes to any sense of restraint.

 

so with his hind legs

he propels himself towards the chipmunk

(who now, on his own hind legs, sits & watches on the other side of the

glass door, nibbling on a nut),

& sure enough,

quicker than you can say

“nincompoop,”

he hits his head on the door---

his neck retracts with the blow,

and his body drops straight to the floor---

he lays there shaking some sense into his own head,

pissed off at the chipmunk,

who by this time has finished his nut,

grown bored with the dog’s antics,

and has made his way back into the forest---

only to return tomorrow,

again,

to wreak havoc upon the dog’s

psyche,

spicing up its own

otherwise

boring

day

of trying to stay alive in the

wild.