Thanksgiving for my dog Mia

It's Thanksgiving.

Last week, my students read Kobe Bryant's poem giving thanks to his "Dear Basketball." They appreciated his use of personification, his framing the poem with the image of himself at age six, and his use of the "tunnel" as both literal and figurative.  I challenged the kids to write a poem to something they love, personified, or to someone they love, not present.  They've been addressing sports, Spider-man, candy, grandparents, a friend who moved away.

We had been looking at simple sentences.  I tried my hand at addressing Mia in a single simple sentence.  The result was pretty good.  In a hotel far away from home, while she's at the kennel, I take this moment to think of her:

Mia,
Your tail thump – thump – thumping
in that Shelter cage,
deep dark eyes aglow
searching mine,
forelegs set for play,
nostrils quivering,
sleek black – and – white body shivering,
anticipating love,

you caught my attention and my heart.

[I took the photo of Mia moments after her vet had confirmed the worst -- bladder cancer, 1-2 years to live. Since then, the tumor has been removed, mostly, its remainder checked by drugs and chemotherapy.  I am thankful that Mia doesn't even know that she's sick.]