It's Still Life

Molly
          (a poem in reply to Mary Oliver’s “Percy”)

My dog, named after my mum’s beloved dog,
although she told me some years later
that she’d never had a dog by that name,
or for that matter a dog of any name, and

when I showed her an old dog-eared photo
of her holding a puppy, she said
“Oh, that was the neighbour’s dog.”

She couldn’t remember its name, but 
was quite sure it wasn’t Molly because
that name didn’t seem appropriate
for a dog that chewed bark off trees.

But my Molly, not the one that Mum 
never had, ate two pairs of my favourite
walking shoes that I’d left unattended.

I always thought Molly developed a love
of long walks from her appetite for shoes.

Written for Miz Quickly’s Day 25 “My Pet ___”  and shared with @Experimentsinfc #APoemADay on Twitter   ©Misky 2021