he gave me a nodding dog
(the sort you put on the shelf of the car’s rear window)
because he knew I loved dogs
and I might have told him about the one I lost
but the nodding dog was comical
in a bright red-bay
boxer sort of way
it didn’t relay the dog that had died in my arms
so I quickly gifted it on
to an acquaintance
who drove a truck
who loved the nodding dog
who glued the nodding dog
to the truck dashboard
where it could nod all the way to Invercargill and back
twice a week
he asked me where it was
and I said I had given it away
to a truck driver
and watched his face crumble
and the blue of his eyes
was magnified and spangled
as he suddenly understood
how it was
between us
© 2020 Maggie Z. Brown