Kitchen

The dog Blue knows the sound of water
as rejection: this one bowl will not
be his for the licking, the liking
of batter or dough, or some other sticking
to roof-of-mouth treat. Mean—
that woman who arbitrates
when to bestow, when to withhold.
Blue the dog doesn’t know
chocolate apart from the smell
and why not? She who trusts him
with other scraps, butter eggs sugar flour
turns the tap on this one.
The bowl fills and the pleasure
that might have been
washes right down the drain
with its untasted scent
like rain in a garden
round a tree full of snake.

Bios

Chantel Lavoie

Chantel Lavoie has published three books of poetry: Where the Terror Lies (Quattro, 2012), Serve the Sorrowing World with Joy (with Meg Freer, 2021), and This is About Angels, Women, and Men (Mansfield 2022).  Originally from Saskatchewan, she teaches in the Department of English, Culture, and Communication at the Royal Military of College in Kingston. [provided for the January 2023 Arc Award of Awesomeness]