LET LOOSE

While I sit here and sip my tea, my mind
Meanders like a footloose dog led by
Its nose about the neighborhood, inclined
This way and that by vagrant scents to spy

Into odd crannies or foul trash cans at
The curb, rooting around for scraps and bones,
But hoping most to roust and chase a cat—
Just so, my mind probes knowns and unknowns.

Capriciously my flitting, fickle brain
Alights on this and that, a memory,
A dream, a scheme, some fancy to obtain,
Or something that might turn to poetry.

When once unleashed, who knows where it might go?
The thing’s to let it loose then watch the show.

*