As a favour for my friend
Kelly, a card-carrying member
of the Communist Party of Canada,
I walk an oversized Rottweiler –
coat glossy brown,
haunches as high
as my head.

On the trim public green,
amidst leaping children,
the dog looks
to empty his bowels.

I realize with despair
that my eager naivete
has, once again, left me
unprepared for the inevitable.

Robyn Braun is a writer and artist in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.