A Dog

 

That way
you won’t be lonely.
You won’t be bored.
You won’t worry where
I am, or if I’m drinking.
You won’t need a call.
You won’t put away
the dinner you made
and ate without me,
a scowl on your lips.
You won’t turn out the lights
and lock the door at a quarter after 8.
You won’t go to bed angry,
scared and confused.
I won’t have to justify
a failure to communicate.
A dog will absolve all my
short comings with the truth
that they are your own insecurities.
A dog will reveal that those things
have nothing to do with me
and when you fail
at taking care of the dog,
we both know that I get to be
the one going to bed angry.