I’ve been writing quite a bit of poetry and/or short pieces about the dogs of late. Not to mention the occasional dual dog and poem post.

I believe the reason for this lies bundled inside my exhaustion. I have been burning the candle on both ends for weeks now. . . loads of things going on with family and work has just been non-stop.

Having unemployed friends makes me quite grateful — even if it feels like too much for a person to juggle.

With the poetry is easy to identify the, “why.” The rhythm and cadence of poetry has always been a fall-back form for me. Even as a teenager, I produced more poetry than prose. As a twenty-something, I did poetry open-mics, etc. I can always hear my poetry as spoken word when I write it. This project commits me to something and so that is the most logical flow when I am tired.

On the subject of dogs. It launched an entire conversation with my therapist several sessions back.

I write about the dogs often.

I think it is for a variety of reasons.

There is the obvious — that I love them. That they provide comfort and love. They are snuggly and sweet. Just being near puppies makes me happy inside.

There is the slightly less obvious — they are safe. People like dogs. They like to see dog photos. When I post about dogs, my blog readership goes up. Writing about the dogs and how I feel about them is less scary then writing about the difficult stuff.

It’s not that I’m scared to write about difficult issues — I’ve tacked a few already.

Writing about the dogs leaves me uplifted.

Writing about the difficult is rewarding . . . but it is also draining and exhausting.

Who wants to push through to a state of further emotional exhaustion when already physically exhausted?

Finally, I think there is a less obvious undertone. I believe that I write about the dogs and occasionally from their point of view because I am a bit jealous of the puppies.

Overall, they have a fairly nice life. Yeah, sometimes they have to sleep in a small locked house under their tables. OTOH, they are constantly cuddled, often played with, get to bask in the sun, roll in the grass, go on long walks through the neighborhood. Dogs have the retirement life.

Yes, Luna is still in training to have a job. But even so, she still has a really nice life.

So yeah, I’ll admit it.

I’m totally jealous of my dogs, they are easy to write about, writing about them gets me out of writing about me, they are heartwarming to look at, and they help me push past the exhaustion and go another day.

#OTR50
256 Days to go.

Note: the photos are mine, this prompt is only for me.
© Randi Sumner