when wildness & brown was hit by the car it hollered & spun
the wild brown dog looked like a dust devil gathering wind
in an empty baseball field a Carolina Dog
in a town of factory workers & missing hands
with all its body it did a small brown dance
danced towards its death not a dog anymore
i wish i could have stopped to bury it in all its fur
on the side of some small road
under a moon a without eyes
miles away from any smokestack
a view of a mountain full of snow
a trying mountain that almost made me forget
but the dog would not lie down
a wild brown dog’s blood is in my mouth a Carolina Dog
& highway vultures at my sides
i am an outfield full of wild dancing
i got it good in the heart
of course the dog became the mountain
of course i wake to it
*“the blue shared earth” is a line borrowed from Aracelis Girmay