Dave Worrell
Poodle in the Storm
You thrived forty years far away in the sun,
then a mutant thing stole away your blond glory,
compelled you to stare at its face in the mirror.
You cried out to me so I told you this story:
Once in a wild electric storm
a delicate poodle
strutted through lightning,
a massive oak branch
clenched in her jaws.
With fierce blue eyes you stared it down,
laughed at the thought of tattooed-on nipples.
Soon you will climb Mount Klyuchevskaya,
bask in late day sun at the summit.
Bio
Dave Worrell's chapbook "We Who Were Bound" was published in August 2012 by Casa de Cinco Hermanas Press. His ekphrastic collection "Close to Home" was published in 2015, featuring paintings by Catherine Kuzma. Dave's poems have appeared in Slant, Canary, Referential Magazine, Wild River Review, U.S. 1 Worksheets, Exit 13 and elsewhere. He has performed his music-backed poems at Chris' Jazz Café in Philadelphia and The Cornelia Street Café in New York.