Two Poems
To Be Useful
become the dog. Make for the tree line when the daughter
takes to hash-marking the house. Be out of sight when the
mother slides shut the gold pin of the bedroom’s lock. In
the space where cucumbers grew high the year before, dig
a trench. The sun is better where they cannot see you. Be
another worry. Stay out past sundown. Know your master
not by his walk but his silence. How he listens for a sign.
takes to hash-marking the house. Be out of sight when the
mother slides shut the gold pin of the bedroom’s lock. In
the space where cucumbers grew high the year before, dig
a trench. The sun is better where they cannot see you. Be
another worry. Stay out past sundown. Know your master
not by his walk but his silence. How he listens for a sign.
