DAY 274
Bert is in the kitchen and he is
sitting on the floor mat so his humongous paws
don’t slide across the hardwood and he is
watching me fluff a pot of white rice
with that animal intensity, unblinking
as if to say please or
your leg is the first thing I would eat
in the apocalypse and I think
who’s gonna tell him? I ran out
of dog food this morning and this is the best
I can do, for now, because the stores
are packed with people and all my inhalers
have been empty for a week. He’s watching
my hand on the fork and his head is bobbing
faintly with my movements. I wonder
what it might be like to want a thing
that much, that simply.