TOM ZIMMERMAN
Masked Man
The dog and you kick fallen leaves, the woods
denuded but still beautiful. Not quite
like you, with sagging chin and neck, sex life
on life support. Buck up, you tell yourself,
there’s music in your head: it’s Shostakovich,
String Quartet 15, your favorite,
austere and haunted, layered human cries.
You see your breath. Dog snuffles living smells
of death, so you imagine, off the path.
You pull him back—a patch of something’s fur
hangs from his mouth. You miss your younger married
life, those Sunday afternoons in bed.
You snap a picture: backlit graying trunks.
Paths branch ahead. How many more to tread.
____________________________________________________________________
Tom Zimmerman teaches English and directs the Writing Center at WCC. He also serves as editor of The Huron River Review and The Big Windows Review as well as faculty advisor of the WCC Poetry Club.
Resilience 