Chasing Loki
We just sat down but John jumps up
from the table where salad waits untouched
as he heard the front door
squeak realizes the dog got out
Loki that clever Weimerauner
dashes after him then
Heather runs too telling me
to stay with the baby and with Mika
the mellow Labrador while they
race dark streets calling
woohoo Loki woohoo Loki wohoo
glad baby Sonia wasn’t in her high chair
already asleep in her crib but I recall
the froth of the chase slow hours waiting
the shock of empty stillness
sitting numbly at the table gazing at salad
I’m too nervous to eat listening
for the baby who might cry but doesn’t
patting Mika snoozing on the rug
until finally they’re back
looking more frazzled than Loki who’s
had his fun running wild around Cambridge
wonder why this crazy beast is so important
study their passionate eyes
and still don’t know.
- © Nina Rubinstein Alonso 2023
Nina Rubinstein Alonso’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, Peacock Review, Ibbetson Street, Nixes Mate, etc. Her poetry collection This Body was published by David Godine Press, her chapbook Riot Wake by Cervena Barva Press, and her story collection Distractions En Route just published by Ibbetson Street, available on Lulu.com and on Amazon.
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