I dreamt I was walking my dogs under the light of the moons.

Posted on 2021/06/01 by Bartholomew Barker

I dreamt I was walking my dogs
under the light of the moons.

The Greater Moon was full—
glowing porcelain above our heads
while the Lesser Moon was a ruddy
crescent setting in the west.

We returned to the backyard and howled,
all three of us, then hunted snipes
until we collapsed in a pile
of dirty paws and panting tongues.

I awoke in a narrow bed— no foot warmers,
no one begging breakfast before dawn.
Felt the pull of a lonely moon
in the still dark night

and howled into my pillow.

(From yesterday’s Living Poetry Prompt.)

About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is one of the organizers of Living Poetry, a collection of poets and poetry lovers in the Triangle region of North Carolina. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he makes money as a computer programmer to fund his poetry habit.
This entry was posted in Poetry and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

24 Responses to I dreamt I was walking my dogs under the light of the moons.

  1. Cassa Bassa says:
    2021/06/01 at 19:01

    Oh that’s very sad and moving. And very relatable in the absence of our beloved friend(s).

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. ivor20 says:
    2021/06/01 at 19:42

    Doggone .. I’ve had that dream too .. !!…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. anitashope says:
    2021/06/01 at 19:50

    So sad. There is so much love in dogs.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. DreamsandReality says:
    2021/06/01 at 20:57

    Wow 🔥

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. JeanMarie says:
    2021/06/01 at 21:18

    Wonderful poem. Emotional and a nice touch of otherworldly-ness with the double moon.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Ali Grimshaw says:
    2021/06/01 at 23:56

    I really liked your second stanza. How fun to howl together before collapsing in a pile
    of dirty paws and panting tongues. It brought to mind a sense of freedom to be what you needed to be.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Carolyn Crossley VixenOfVerse says:
    2021/06/02 at 08:50

    I liked the juxtaposition of howling, first having fun and collapsing in a pile of dirty paws and panting tongues and finally into your pillow alone. It is so poignant. The moon reference makes it feel between the worlds of life and death. I must admit to having the occasional urge to howl at the moon myself. 🙂❤👩‍🦰❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  8. Lisa Tomey says:
    2021/06/04 at 18:06

    What a sad and relatable poem. Takes me back to my own canine loves. How they leave a void.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. Cheryl, Gulf Coast Poet says:
    2021/06/24 at 22:51

    Bartholomew, an exquisite poem…poignant and beautifully expressed. I feel a touch of sadness for the dogs I have loved and lost. Allergies prevent us from having pets going forward. Maybe I should also howl into my pillow! <3 Have a great weekend coming up!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  10. lorijcollins, I Kissed a Dog and I Liked It says:
    2021/07/31 at 13:47

    I love the imagery and emotions you create in this. <3 Usually only a dog-lover or animal-lover will get these words, but something tells me you nailed it for everyone.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. Pingback: I dreamt I was walking my dogs under the light of the moons. — Bartholomew Barker, Poet | I Kissed a Dog and I Liked It

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s