Diana Darby ** "I V" ** Intravenous

Running Water

I gave the dog a bath
but neither of us feel any better.
Not the dog,
lying in the sun
glaring at me
for what I had done,
or me,
wet,
from the dog's shaking.
I thought if I gave the dog a bath
it would be one thing
I could make better,
one thing I could control.
Besides
it was 90 degrees today,
the last hot day of summer,
before fall comes
and there aren’t any more warm days
to wash the dog.
I stood there with the water
running,
wetting and scrubbing the dog,
trying to get the dirt out,
trying to make something shiny
that had become dull.
But when I turned off the hose,
everything was exactly the same,
except my shoes
were wet.