THE BARKING DOG
dogs bark
most of ‘em anyway
for some it’s a strength,
Jimmy named his bar after a dog like that
The Barking Dog
didn’t last long
and shorter every year
The Barking Dog, on the corner of an alley
and a busy one-way street
in a neighborhood people run away to
narrow brick building
first floor, next to a second-hand store
a coffee shop across the busy one-way street
where I sit behind a window
thinking these thoughts
transcribing them into a notebook,
describing Jimmy as a talented entrepreneur
a guy who made his dream come true
the bar had a stage, at the far end from the door
entertainment Tuesday nights and weekends,
some nights when the crowd was thin
he’d produce a guitar and join in
I’m not the one who found him but
I had been in earlier that very day
they say he looked like he was smiling,
the place was everything for Jim
his whole life, The Barking Dog