This poem was published in The Avenue Journal, Issue X: Dogs
Signs
by Richard Downing
I was ill
prepared.
The game was on.
The lawn
needed my attention.
There were chips to be dipped, their residue
wiped on white towels dyed
with faint floral patterns.
There were theme parks to be seen,
clothes to be shed,
handwritten lists
of things to do,
when
the rapture occurred.
I’ve come to know
the signs. I’m still
here.
The dog is missing.
Richard Downing has won the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Contest, New Delta Review’s Matt Clark Prize, and the Solstice Editors’ Award. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and his work appears nationally and internationally in over fifty journals, including Arts & Letters, Malahat Review, and Prime Number. He holds a PhD in English and is a voting rights activist https://www.chillsubs.com/profile/hikoou
You can purchase The Avenue Journal Issue X: Dogs in paperback at Bookshop.org, or, if you prefer it in digital format, you can download the ebook in .epub format for pay-what-you-can (suggested donation $9) at ko-fi.