New Poetry by Nina Rubinstein Alonso

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.