It has been a week of dogs barking
A season, really, of dogs barking
Relentless, repetitive barking
A background for video calls and teleconferences
Barking overlaying the neighbour’s blaring of Bohemian Rhapsody
Barking accompanying the thump, thump, thump
Of the teen playing solitary basketball
Barking among the endless news broadcasts
The counting and recounting of electoral colleges
Barking drowned out by shrieking sirens
Descending on tragedy at a senior’s house
Barking replaced by mournful howling
Tugging our hearts toward loss and grief
Calling out the losses of this world
These politics, that unrepentant anger
Our mourning of death and courage
Voicing losses of pandemic and civility
Collective voices drowned out
By a cacophony of television, radio, social media
And dogs barking
Yet beyond loss and adversity
Companionship, compassion, courage
And a deliberate, determined, grounded calm
One collective deep breath
Two
Three
and the dogs begin their barking again
A new empathy for neighbours
Struggling with isolation and loss
Anxiety and fear
And the sound of dogs barking
Dogs who voice our sadness and loneliness
Our hopelessness and anger
Our frustration and defiance
Our determined stance to hold our ground
Our insistence on being joyful and vital
Compassionate, creative, caring
In the face of everything
This world throws at us
Even
Dogs barking.
Seeker of Wisdom 