\n
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When I help you\nscrabble onto the couch beside me, your eyes pool<\/p>\n
Your limbs quiver as the wood floor slips under
\nyour nails and your flanks knock into furniture.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re braving your longest trek: from couch to
\nkitchen to water dish. With lightning in my heart,<\/p>\n
I watch you unlearning how to walk\u2014a puppy
\nin reverse. Then, water lapped and food sniffed,<\/p>\n
you labor back to the living room.
\nWhen I help you
\nscrabble onto the couch beside me, your eyes pool<\/p>\n
acceptance, gratitude. And a flash of something else,
\ncutting pity to the quick. Hiding dread, I begin<\/p>\n
to croon, stroking your velvet ears.
\nSoon, my body
\ntoo will tortoise its greatest journey\u2014<\/p>\n
sofa to kitchen to kettle to cup. I imagine each
\nmuscle fierce in meditation on how to wed<\/p>\n
feet to floor and hand to table\u2019s edge. Like yours,
\nmy rippling youth, once swift and careless, will be<\/p>\n
supplanted by a different grace\u2014desire untethered
\nfrom control.
\nReading my thoughts, you lick my face,<\/p>\n
then circle the sofa cushion, making a nest of air Your limbs quiver as the wood floor slips under your nails and your flanks knock into furniture. You\u2019re braving your longest trek: from couch to kitchen to water dish. With lightning in my heart, I watch you unlearning how to walk\u2014a puppy in reverse. Then, water lapped and food sniffed, you labor back to the … Continue reading Afternoon with an Elderly Dog<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"issue":[6876],"class_list":["post-2106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","issue-6876"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-25 14:23:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2106"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/plum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=2106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nto sleep away the afternoon.
\nDon\u2019t worry, Ace,<\/em>
\nI murmur. I\u2019m taking notes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"