Mad Dog Days
by
Sarah Sassoon
Karl Anderson
Mad Dog Days
It’s the same conversation
over paper coffee cups
standing
there are no chairs
to sit down these days
we don’t know
who has our back
Everywhere I walk my dog
there are whisperings
failing leaves
words filling the heart
tearing it apart
The wind whips
the oak tree branched
like stethoscopes reporting
an increase in irregular
heartbeats tightenings pain
I pause
even the dog knows
we have to stop for red
traffic lights ambulance sirens
wrecked russet leaves
See the change in color
the trees bend abandoned
bare to easterly currents
whilst we sip coffee wondering
how short our leashes are
and where we are being lead
Published:
January 16, 2023
Sarah Sassoon is an Australian born writer and poet of Iraqi-Jewish descent. Her work has appeared in the Michigan Quarterly Review, Ruminate, Lilith, The Ilanot Review, Consequence Forum and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the Andrea Moriah Poetry Prize, and shortlisted for the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Award. Her micro-chapbook, ‘This is Why We Don’t Look Back’ was recently awarded first place in Harbor Review’s Jewish Women's poetry prize. Sarah is also the author of the children’s picture book, “Shoham’s Bangle” (Kar-Ben Publishing, Fall 2022).