Mistakes Have Been Made

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Catherine Coan

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When I see a lost dog sign, I imagine
that the dog has gone to outer space alone
in the Russian tradition, I mean in the tradition
of Russian novels: his little face at a porthole
gazing out at a vast and twinkling oblivion.

When he sleeps, his body drifts softly
into beeping consoles. His legs twitch, chasing
a squirrel in a dream. He wakes
to snap at a constellation of kibble floating by.

The lost dog’s mistress loves him.
She knows now that the slightest miscalculation
can create a wild new trajectory.
When she forgot him at the gas station,
she was busy with lipstick and a phone.

She’s looked and looked. He’s nowhere
but up. So she’s thrown a white bone into orbit
over the lake where they always sat
together on the cold grass, barking at the moon.

__________

Catherine Coan‘s dog, Buster Keaton.

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Catherine Coan‘s poems have appeared in journals including Poetry, Poetry Northwest, the Seattle Review, and Terrain.org. Her first book, Aviation, was published by Blue Begonia Press (Yakima, WA) in 2000. She is also a mid-career artist making dioramas and installations featuring taxidermy: www.catherinecoan.com. She lives in Los Angeles, CA and Chapel Hill, NC.

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