started writing poetry

when life seemed

to call for poetry writing

many zoeypoems

about dog love

and devastating loss

(then Zoey's book:

Unbearable Loss:

The Traumatic Death

of My Soulmate Dog Zoey

starting with loss

reaching an endpoint

with the last deep griefs

in my life

my second beloved dog Jena

Mom, then Dad

gone

and so, in 2012

the next-to-last last poem

A Black Horse Comes

13 days after my dad's death

then silence on paper

a new word-quiet

oddly yoked

to relentless images, emotions, voices

I carry daily

and dream nightly

but do not write

until June 27, 2013

when I was felled

deeply

by the death of NOVA

extraordinarily loved

and powerfully bonded

cat companion of 18 years