A Noble Last Stand
It’s January
and I come home
from the pool hall
after sharing a few beers
with a spider web hand tattoo
as I begin to jingle keys
under a single streetlight
I hear behind me
not far away
nor close enough to see
a pack of coyotes
cackling and hollering
like a rebel yell
before a bayonet charge
and the growling cries of a dog
surrounded and outnumbered
defending his homestead
from the hungry winter invaders
from what I could hear
the dog fought valiantly
and with honor in his final moments
like the unnamed Viking
at the battle of Stamford bridge
although the night is dark
and the ground is cold
one day
I hope to meet you
in Valhalla
to shake your paw
my furry champion.
©2022 Mackenzie Thorn All rights reserved.
Mackenzie Thorn is a poet/musician from St. Louis, Missouri. He is currently residing in the foothills of the Ozarks where he hoards Jim Bakker food buckets in anticipation of the coming apocalypse. He has works featured in Bad Jacket Zine, Rye Whiskey Review, and a chapbook through Spartan Press called, Fate of a Mullet.