They use a metal spatula to flay a palm-sized swatch
of moss from a stump in the backyard. They bring
it into the shower. When the other steps in, their foot
meets the soft blotch. They raise it like a dirty, wet rag
to the edge of the tub. While that one washes the other
peels a slice of bark from the tulip poplar in the park
across the street and staples it to the moss. They then lodge
the little garden into the crook of the sink. They tell
the other to water it whenever they wash their hands.
While one dresses the other cracks milkweed pods
and dusts all the surfaces in their apartment with fluff.
Then from behind one snips a strand of the other’s hair.
To save for later, to use in a sculpture, they say.
WLS is a poet. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Indiana University Bloomington. Her first book, Psychogynecology, was published by Monster House Press in 2015. Her work can be found many places, including poets.org and The Portland Review. Other poems about The Dogcatchers can be found in the anthology Undeniable, published by Alternating Currents Press.
