Of course Shadow is a big black dog
and one of seven boys born this morning
will be called Connor or something-Junior
or Dick . Predictable
with labels, labors
and conditions, we let options
click shut like cabinet doors.
So the job is prescribed, an antidote to verve,
call in sick as you are!
shake the hose, snug toes in crocheted socks.
If you spill coffee and think
you need to run grab a sponge,
pull a poem instead --
play bard of an hour by the kitchen sink.
When someone says, let me put it to you
blunt, note this is license:
Bury the censor in the yard
like a fallen squirrel.
Shoot from the hip.
Someone’s stopped whistling
to listen.