Emily Strauss

Mercury— ma said she was named after
the planet, so wingéd and light
and the dog Dodge ´cause ma said
he´d better— fed the finest meals

Castor and Pollux Organic Grain-free
kibble for Dodge, Leach Grain´s A/P
Pellets and fresh vegetables for Mercury

patrol the yard, Mercury by day, visible
in her orbit around the sheet metal, thick
railroad ties, mud puddle, Dodge by night,
around the perimeter, his well-worn track
to the rear gate and back, nose pushing
through the chain-link fence menacing
each ´possum, ´coon and coyote ambling past
the lot after midnight, baying and snarling

asleep in the morning sun under the Cadillac
hood on oil drums, Mercury marching past
bald tires collecting rain, patches of weeds
sticking through piles of boards, ma said
we can tell the weather by her walk as Dodge
twitches, tickled by a stray bit of fluffy down.