The Family Dog

by Ryan W. Bradley

The elastic crest of sunlight
arced across the bog, crippled
by drought, the alabaster bones
of the family dog revealed
through the cracks of dried mud,
like a reminder that as dinosaurs
once ruled this land, so did Dusty,
a golden retriever with a brain
the size of a T. Rex’s and a body
just as forgotten, just as cold.