In April
Out of the ordinariness of the day,
a dog comes trotting, stops and shakes
himself, and the leash that fastens him
less to the one who holds it than to the plan
for the afternoon: an hour of varied winds
that stop and start in the mind of April,
and the leash, and the man to walk with,
and a woman who passes,
whose ordinary mood is dispelled
by a dog that wags its tail in a body-wide
smile of unpartitionable joy,
sun and petals awry,
and her hair blown wildly by the wind,
on the northeast corner of Marlee and Eglinton.
Roo Borson’s most recent book is Rain; road; an open boat, published in 2012 by McClelland & Stewart. She also writes, with Kim Maltman, under the pen name Baziju.