A guy approached walking his dog
Hiya I said
I don’t remember whether the man replied
The next utterance I recall was to his dog
You want to say hello
The dog moved in my direction
Do you like dogs asked the guy
A slight sequence error
His mind was on his dog
I hesitated
And finally I like them okay
Upon further review I dislike more than like them
I petted the dog with both my hands
One behind an ear the other under the chin
I want to wash my hands I thought

As I rounded the corner another dogwalker appeared
Engrossed in the phone in one hand
The leash in the other
Hiya I said as we passed
Definitely no reply
Careful avoidance of eye contact
Come on I heard him say to his dog
Inobservance of the courtesies really bothers me

I liked dogs when I was a kid
I watched while Sam my favorite
Died from chasing a heating oil truck
He was not run over but broke his back
Caught midleap by the truck’s rear step
He dragged himself a few feet by his front paws
And then collapsed

I saw an overturned bee
Big and black wriggling its legs
I’ve not seen an all-black bee I thought
Has it turned black at death’s approach
Before realizing that I’d never before examined
The underside of a carpenter bee
A few yards on another bee was in its throes
This time upright so that I could see
It’s greenish hood
While it traced circle after circle
Roughly an inch in diameter