We were at Mayo Clinic with our service dog
when a little boy asked if he could pet her. He hugged
her and gazed at her and loved her for the briefest of times.
He said he wished he had a dog like that. My wife said
maybe you’ll have a dog like her someday. He said no,
I have a bad heart and I’m going to die soon.

*

While they were brewing the hemlock,
Socrates was learning to play a new song on his flute.

*

We were lying on a Lake Superior beach
looking at the Perseids. I said to you let’s lie here
until we see twenty shooting stars. The only words
between us were numbers. When we saw twenty,
we kept watching.
The sound of the waves
like some mystical incantation showering us
with a slow rain of light.
We were lying on a Lake Superior beach
looking at the stars.

Thomas J. Erickson most recent book is The Lawyer Chronicles (Kelsay Books, 2020). He is a lawyer in Milwaukee where he is a member of the Hartford Avenue Poets.