Poetry by Paul Jones

                Dávid Kótai CC



This Old Dog

This dog is too old to find the porch.
He's sleeping in the yard on the hard
stone pocked ground under the gum tree.
All those fallen prickly gum spheres
dig in his fur like a truck stop
masseuse just back from the nail parlor.
It feels so good to him, but he knows
that there is something wrong going on,
something askew in the system, 
a broken connection maybe,
something saying this feels so damn fine,
but you know you'll soon be paying more
than you should. Just for now, let the sun
warm his tattered coat, his sore flank.
Let gum balls do their questionable
labor as he runs in his sleep 
toward a rabbit he'll never catch.

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Paul Jones — Poetry, Triggerfish Critical Review, Broadkill Review, and recently in Ekphrastic Review as well as anthologies including Best American Erotic Poems (1800 - Present). Recently nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and two Best of the Web Awards. Chapbook, What the Welsh and Chinese Have in Common. Manuscript of poems crashed on the moon’s surface April 11, 2019.