Regret
Olivia Stowell
my dog has no spatial awareness
she, on her outdoor leash
will wind herself like labyrinth theseus
around the patio chairs
until she is out of rope and then
cry because she cannot go any
further. she cannot figure that
forward movement requires going
back, that if she only walked it back
she would have enough slack
to run again. i am thinking of how
at sixteen, i waited too long
to forgive my mother, or how i have
forgotten how to be a daughter, how
long i spent inside myself. outside, my dog
whines. she wants to come back
inside but, leash cat’s-cradled in
chair legs, cannot reach the door.
Olivia Stowell is a graduate student at Villanova University pursuing her Masters in English. Her recent poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Albion Review, Madcap Review, Ghost City Review, FIVE:2:ONE's #thesideshow, Right Hand Pointing, and The Merrimack Review.