Next up in the Dog Days collection – another view of the turtle:

TURTLE AT THE POND

I first saw it sunning, a seeming
outcropping of sunbathed stone
so similarly conformed.

Distracted by my pup’s demands
I turned to stick, ball, her new routine
of splash, swim, retrieve; 

shake, drop and roll. Each its own show,
the shake from ears down body
to the final wild twist of tail.

I could almost feel the scratch
of dried stubbled grass
easing the irritation of flies;

and I too dropped, tho’ didn’t roll,
eyes lazy on the pond’s stilled surface
seeing without appraisal a small head

curious and steady in its forward swim –
the turtle’s small eyes trained on us,
curious creatures at pond’s edge.

swb