Contributor: Sy Roth

- -
Somnolent time,
6:00 a.m. a quiet bridge upon which
to circumnavigate the sleepy neighborhood in
its first buttock-scratching stretch
and purposeful bathroom meanderings.

A black Labrador, ten houses down,
begs exit to her toilet
on the corner of William Lane.
He follows her to the front door
leash straining,
tail run amok
beating against his knees.
I roll past the lab,
wind splashing my face,
sun gamely warming the air.
Rusty sun-rays dance on her ebon coat.
At the cobble-stoned curb,
she squats,
hind quarter resting delicately.
A yellow stream forms a steamy puddle
then a snaky rivulet,
hound’s relief drawn on her face.

On William Street, Mr. P prances with his cocker spaniel.
He always greets the sun with a smile,
whistles a tune,
swings his cocker’s bagged droppings,
a chest of doubloons,
that dangles from his index finger.
The sun rests on his face,
full-moon-faced grin
resides there like a lawn gnome.

Little world awakening,
I push my bike harder
dreaming of cereal and blueberries.


- - -
He comes riding in and then canters out. Oftentimes, the head is bowed by reality; other times, he is proud to have said something noteworthy. Retired after forty-two years as teacher/school administrator, he now resides in Mount Sinai, far from Moses and the tablets. This has led him to find words for solace. He spends his time writing and playing his guitar. He has published in Visceral Uterus, Amulet, BlogNostics, Every Day Poets, Barefoot Review, Haggard and Halloo, Misfits Miscellany, Larks Fiction Magazine, Danse Macabre, Bitchin’ Kitsch, Bong is Bard, Humber Pie, Poetry Super Highway, Penwood Review, Masque Publications, Foliate Oak, Miller’s Pond Poetry, The Artistic Muse, Word Riot, Samizdat Literary Journal, Right Hand Pointing, The Screech Owl, Epiphany, Red Poppy Review, Big River, Poehemians, Nostrovia Poetry’s Milk and Honey, Siren, Palimpsest, Dead Snakes, Euphemism, Humanimalz Literary Journal, Ascent Aspirations, Fowl Feathered Review, Vayavya, Wilderness House Journal, Aberration Labyrinth, Mindless(Muse), and Kerouac’s Dog.