all dogs
by Karen Mason
when you can starve a stepchild
with a full cabinet,
when you can scare him into
pissing into bedside jars,
there’s no question you’ll
put off putting your dog down.
i think
sometimes
if you try to stave off the bad shit
you’ll end up prolonging it,
and you can pull too hard
the tail of what you’re loving at,
give it cancer globules—fist-sized zits
coming out of its everywhere.
but i think about my husband
and what will happen when one of us goes.
he’ll stick around forever
obviously.