The teens arrived on Tuesday
Then a deep dive
To single digits
German Shepherd
In heart-gouging crouch
Frozen pads, three nights in a row
No beach walk for Rosie
We missed
Meteor showers and a moon so full
And buoyant like
An intruder over your shoulder
The teens returned
In the twilight of Friday winter
Sky Wisconsin slate
Dull, gray, opaque
But for boundless snow
A blizzard
No delicate flakes, this one
Dense snow dead serious
Massive accumulation
We trudge
Through waves of white sludge
To the beach
Rosie meandering mostly, nose on snow
Her tracks as proof
She would never leave me
Lake Michigan quietly thickening
A frosty no dog’s land
Between drifted beach and dreadful waves
Rosie often laps at water’s edge
Then bites waves
But tonight she finds something there
Between slush and ice
She does not venture
Good girl
Elizabeth G Fagan is an artist, photographer, and writer. A former Chicagoan, Fagan resides in southeastern Wisconsin. She calls her place in the world Lake Michigan’s Left Coast.
Fagan attended The Hammonasset School, a private arts high school in Connecticut, where she began writing and taking photographs. She earned a BA in English at Grinnell College (Grinnell, Iowa) and the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC). She has an MA in Linguistics with a specialization in teaching English as a second language (ESL) from UIC. Fagan later gained an associate degree in Web Development from Chicago’s DePaul University.
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