by Jeremy Byars

The private beach was ours the rest of the day,
Kentucky Lake sparkling from noonday sun
and cloudless sky. Boaters skied in the center
of the cove; jet skis sliced a path between us.
We waded in the shallow water near
a friend’s dock while willow flies buzzed nearby.
A neighborhood dog joined our party, barking
and tail-wagging from shore. We flung a stick
ashore to placate her, and she brought it in
the lake—her muscles surging in the dark
water. Her focus squared on staying true
to her breed’s distinctiveness.
                  We all took turns
tossing the soggy stick, and she pursued
each of our throws, her wood baton firm
in her jaws as she returned the prize. This chase
endured for fifteen minutes or so, until
the dog began to tire, paddling fifty
yards from shore thanks to a calculated launch
from one of the boys—sadistic motives fixed
on gauging her endurance.
                                                    Still she returned,
her breath heavy, jerking her legs through grainy
water. She heaved herself against my body
as if asking to be held so she could lap
the bulky air. She clung to me till someone
faked a toss farther into the cove. She kicked
away and chased nothing, sometimes slipping,
sinking down in the dark before rising with
foolish focus. I yelled for them to stop
and let her rest—but her instinctual slog
became amusing to them.
                                                   I found a wad
of weeds and twigs, making a nervous racket,
splashing, shouting—hoping the dog would hear
the thrashing, favor my gob of gunk and turn
back toward the shore. But she kept swimming,
paddling away into the blinding light
like Icarus, until her golden body
dropped out of sight, obscured by passing pontoons
and a jet skier jumping wakes for show.

JEREMY BYARS’s first poetry collection, Eyes Open to the Flash, was published in 2008, and he’s completing his second collection and beginning a work of historical fiction. His poems and reviews have appeared in many journals, most recently storySouth, Ariel, Poetry Midwest and If Poetry Journal.