A Poem by Taylor Graham

PETTING THE PUPPY IN STORM

Thunder transfers to

static in fur, each single hair

reaching out for

a signal

transmission -

her eyes caught

between brown rhapsody

of hand-touch &

lightning -

impending possibilities

untying every

knot, unloosing leashes.

Outside the

window, Thor's hammer-bolts

in revue,

crush of pressure/boom/

incandescence

(the house held by its

lightning rod)

sulfur

our room airlocked

between worlds,

my pup electric ever-ready.

Taylor Graham is a volunteer search-and-rescue dog handler in the Sierra Nevada. She’s included in the anthologies Villanelles (Everyman’s Library, 2012) and California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present (Santa Clara University, 2004). Her book The Downstairs Dance Floor was awarded the Robert Philips Poetry Chapbook Prize. Her newest book – Walking with Elihu: poems on Elihu Burritt, the Learned Blacksmith – is available on Amazon.