Photo & Poem: At a Writing Workshop

At a Writing Workshop

A dog stalks the sofa, gazing with
one eye and then crossing his nose
to the other side to give the off-eye,
the smaller one, full view. He’s shy,

but his body shows the wear, from
the forward ear, across his skull to
the crumpled one, of a complicated
history. Gingerly climbing up to

find a place on the sofa, he’s not
a natural joiner but this afternoon,
he curls between two others, holds
his chin out, slow to yield his uneven

ears, slow to cool his mixed blood.
Chaotic thoughts come to settle amid
incomers, and the room stills for words
waltzing to the sound of pens on paper.