LAST NIGHT A DOG BARKED

By Chuck Marecic
Last night a dog barked
at the wind through the trees
once again confounding fear,
wildness, and boredom
like a religious zealot
lost in the labyrinth of justifications
placing hope in the
off chance that rustling leaves or
creaking branches belie something
more ominous than the distant rumble of thunder portends.
Only rain.
Yet, those ears habituated to complicit domesticity-
cars grumbling down the dirt driveway,
droning television commercials, a fork scratching a dinner plate, or
a perpetually leaking faucet-
hear the taunt of the wild in every single thing outside like coyote laughter
and this alone puts them on edge.