Sideways Thursday

The dog
My dog
Normally a very good dog
Has a weakness for chickens

This morning
She killed my favorite chicken
The little feather-footed
Black and white spotted
Banty chicken
And the day began in darkness

For a while
Most of the day
I didn't know if someone I care about
Was dead
Or alive
And the darkness deepened

It wrapped around me
Making it difficult to breathe deeply

Then I heard he was fine
Still hurting inside
But alive
And going to stay that way
I took a deep breath and exhaled
Blowing a tiny hole in the darkness

My older son called
Out of the blue
Merely to talk to me
To talk
To me
And the sun started to shine

Just in time for it to set
And make way
For the rising of a
Baked Custard Moon

Think I'll go outside
And listen to the frogs
And the crickets
And the owls
And the coyotes
And if I'm very very lucky
The distant howl of the red wolves

Now that the darkness is friendly again