20160222 (dog walk)

Walking the dog. Good for the dog. Good for you. Both you and the dog get to socialize.

Walking is good. Walking alone

Is OK but can be misinterpreted.

Walking with the dog is just about

Perfect. Whatever you may have

Heard there is no such thing as

Walking the cat. If you have

The dog you can easily stop, 

Chat with your neighbors or

Whomever you meet briefly or 

At length. Dogs can find the same

Patch of grass endlessly sniffable.

If the other party has a dog things

Might get out of hand. Cross the

Street or indicate you’re going 

A different way if you know 

The dogs will not meet well. 

Size is no reliable indicator. Some

Big dogs will not be bothered;

Others will consider your dog

Lunch. German Shepherds

Running with lithe young things

Are best avoided altogether. 

Pugs and Boston Terriers can 

Be very aggressive as if they’re 

Looking for the guy who pushed

Their faces in, who might look 

Like you. All dogs are a gamble 

Even when the owner volunteers

His is well-behaved, yours may

Take that instance to give you

A surprise. With sound judgment

You’ll both have a nice meet 

And greet (or sniff and whiff as 

The dogs call it); you’ll have made

A friend or learned to be cautious.

Walking your dog in the evening

Is totally different from walking 

In the daytime. Whether you’re

Traipsing around the posh manses

Of Fairmount and North Park or

The humbler worker’s cottages

Of Bridge and Randall a warm 

Glow of older incandescents might

Be lighting a dining room at family 

Supper. Walk slowly enough, observe

Carefully, you may get a sense of the

Home dynamic—people eating alone 

Always appear incredibly sad. You’ll 

Almost never see young people at 

The tables (upstairs doing homework?

In some event at school? Out to score

Some weed?). And you get to play

Interior decorator as you go—

Shouldn’t have tried that yellow

For a living room, or social critic—

Bedsheets taped up on the living

Room windows? Are they that poor

Or is it a meth house? In my ‘hood

It’s best not to stay out later than

Sundown. You could walk safely

Certain residential streets at night

In the Heights, but in Cleveland,

Well, it can get tough, so stay where

The street lights are bright and the 

Traffic is busy, like Detroit. Don’t 

Walk close to the buildings if 

There’s a dark alley in between.

Take the well-lit way home too.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016