Marcia L. Hurlow
Poetry
Marcia L. Hurlow is the author of one full-length collection of poems and five chapbooks. Her individual poems have appeared in Poetry, Chicago Review, Poetry Northwest, Poetry East, Cold Mountain, River Styx, and Nimrod, among others. She is co-editor of Kansas City Voices.
Evening Before the Diagnosis
Right now, Dylan, I’m fighting
as I march along the lake,
my pit bull pulling me
to the grey edge of shore
to rage at a heron. It flies
with a ragged screech
to a farther bank. Its nest,
I’m sure, crackles with young
and their pale wings rise
in hunger as the mother
lands. It’s all expectation.
She might have a fish.
Nothing, now, is a question.
“ My dog Lucky, a pit/lab mix, is usually the sweetest pup imaginable, but he is instantly outraged at any large water bird or squirrel. His frantic barking is sometimes cathartic for the both of us. ”