"Sweet Relief" by Thomas Mixon

I love the chasms the dogs body through

the snow. First light finds excavators

hirsute and, needing to pee, hurrying

a channel they widen after finding sweet

relief. I was relieved to find myself

exempt from shoveling their path; newborn

child carving fierce demands across our field

of vision all the time, the dogs glanced

briefly at the baby’s scythe and saw

themselves outside just fine. No grievances

found in their bottomless eyes, I reinforced

their canyons intermittently, only

at night. The guilt their faces gave

permission to be cleared, avalanched.

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Thomas Mixon was a featured writer at Mass Poetry's U35 reading series in Boston. His work has appeared in Rogue Agent, Plainsongs, Sweet Tree Review, and elsewhere.