April 2017
Chris Anderson
anderson7715@msn.com
anderson7715@msn.com
I live with my two dogs on the edge of the university research forest, where I walk everyday and think and pray. I have taught at Oregon State University since 1986 and have been a Catholic deacon since 1987. I have written a number of books, including two books of poetry. My second book of poems, THE NEXT THING ALWAYS BELONGS, was published in 2011 by Airlie Press. For more, see www.deaconchrisanderson.com.
When Shy Ran Away
I was standing on the hill
talking with a woman who had stopped
to say how much she loved
my book. A runner, young and lithe,
in a lithe group of runners,
bouncy, neoprened,
and Shy, who had been nosing
in the brambles on the side of the road,
was frightened, I think.
We’d only had him a week.
The woman was pressing
her hands together in an attitude
of prayer, mock-bowing
but sincere, thanking me,
when over her shoulder I saw Shy
burst from the brambles
and shoot down the road, flat out,
ears flapping, faster than I thought
a little dog could run.
Could fly: a small, black streak.
What I was wondering
in the hours I ran up and down
the trail and back and forth
on the road, scanning the scrubby
February forest, every fallen
branch a Yorkie mix,
was what might be
the nature of the revelation
in a moment like this,
What might it mean?
What does it mean
that Shy was waiting for me,
on the front porch,
trembling, bedraggled,
when I finally stumbled home?
©2017 Chris Anderson
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