Watching

An animal control officer tugs a pit-bull out of a backyard. It is snagged on a long pole. The animal is eager to cooperate, its large head lolls passively. Crows foreshadow in a nearby tree. Few die secretly, there is always a viewing conducted by strangers. The officer and the pit-bull seem to know this, neither look at the crows. In the road a closed body bag. I watch the scene as if I were an open mouth. Returning to my car, I think: If I don't look back, nobody dies.