Her back displays a constellation, stars to navigate by.

As I grip on the controls so perfectly curved for my uncalloused hands,
   the undulation of her spine and the curve of her neck navigate our motion.

We travel together.

We bend space and time folding it for ourselves alone.

Her head turns. Her voice calls.  Her eyes open to encourage me.  I, in turn, respond.

The constellation, centered on her vertebrae, charts our course still.

Bunch of notifications popped up on my iPhone
34 new Gmail messages in just two hours
Searching for just one
It’s not coming
It’s not there
It’s over
I’ll have to find joy somewhere else

A brief meeting
   Interrupted by the advancing minutes of my dashboard’s digital clock

A hug, so long overdue, a farewell and words of reassurance shared
   Painful?
   Perilous?  
   Wise?

Perhaps, not
But, worth it

Almost nonchalantly she places her paws across the tops of the pointed cedar pickets.

   the fence divides two realities:
   on one side rests the chained beast of detection,
   on the other inevitable separation

Why stray on this treacherous path?
   unsafe.
   unwise.
   unkind.
Still she treads lightly.

Just when she approaches safety
   a door opens
   both our faults really
   gravity works
   the beast released
   falling together, joined in pain