Yellow Mama E zine

Pink Collar

 

by Peter Mladinic

 

           Do you still have it here,

           the pink collar he was found in,

           that someone put around him

           before he went out the door

           and slipped away from them

           and they never saw him again?

           I see a woman with dark hair, maybe sixty,

           alone. The collar wasn’t new.

           I wonder if she grieved her loss,

           as we grieved after he suddenly

           wasn’t here. Having been put down by

           the vet the day after the pit bull’s attack.

           By then he’d worn another collar

           and one night escaped but was found

           because of the number on his tag,

           which also bore his name.

           For extra security he was chipped.

           Hers before he was ours,

           did she name him? If so, how long

           did he answer to that name?

           Since we found him in a park,

           maybe he was a homeless person’s.

           Where did he come from?

           A blond terrier in a pink collar

           leaped into our SUV, as if he were home.

 

 

           Peter Mladinic's most recent book of poems, The Whitestone Bridge, is available from Anxiety Press. An animal rights advocate, he lives in Hobbs, New Mexico.

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          Bernice Holtzman’s paintings and collages have appeared in shows at various venues in Manhattan, including the Back Fence in Greenwich Village, the Producer’s Club, the Black Door Gallery on W. 26th St., and one other place she can’t remember, but it was in a basement, and she was well received. She is the Assistant Art Director for Yellow Mama.