Listen

have I ever told you

that dogs frighten me?

even now, the sound

of barking, makes my anxiety stretch its long legs.

have I ever told you

the blank stare you hand

out like flyers at a church

social, makes my bones ache?

you give me that “look” that says

you have someplace for me to be

other than here, while i’m stretched out in my lazy boy like on a medieval rack,

because that’s where I’d rather be other than across town picking up

laundry detergent, frozen

burritos or the industrial size

toilet paper. have I ever told you that being near you comes with the price of cigarettes at midnight or a mountain dew with a cup full of ice

that magically appears without you moving a finger? still, those dogs, with their bared teeth and their muscular legs loping toward me, thunderously pounding

the pavement, make me loose my shit, slightly more than you do my love, yet I’d go to the end

of the earth for you,

just not tonight.