Vox Populi
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Jim Minick: Sighs
How they wallop with softness,
how they soothe with the slow rush
of wind through the forest in your dog’s nose,
each follicle a pine to sing a contented song
of nothing-could-be-better,
of home-is-sweet-and-here-and-now—
That’s Ray, the King of Sighs—
as he naps, I pet his ears and feel
their coolness and so lay a blanket
over his big-boned body, his thin tan fur—
the tucking in elicits that quick inhale,
that slow exhale of just-rightness;
or on movie nights, how he lies
big-bellied between us to knead
and chew his towel like a puppy
falling asleep with towel-filled mouth,
or just pausing to rest and sigh
and then knead some more;
or every night when I’m last in bed,
his family all settled, the dark
cave of our room quiet and safe—
from his pillow on the floor
he heaves that chest to sigh
a long and slow yes.
Not just Ray sighs like this.
This is how the Earth sings,
the bumble bee too,
how we all are meant to sigh
with each breath until the end:
Breathe in scent and light.
Breathe out wings and flight.
Copyright 2024 Jim Minick. From The Intimacy of Spoons by Jim Minick (Madville, 2024).
Jim Minick is the author or editor of eight books including the novel Fire is your Water.
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Contented doggie sighs are the best. Our big older dog lulls us all to sleep in the evenings while we try to watch television, read, whatever. There’s no resisting that song and we follow him into sleep.
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Lovely, Kim. Thanks.
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I just rolled in this poem like a dog in a heap of autumn leaves. Every line a declaration of love for everything that’s alive. Yes, I know that feeling too:
“the tucking in elicits that quick inhale,
that slow exhale of just-rightness;”
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‘Every line a declaration of love for everything that’s alive.’
Thanks for this, Rose Mary!
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Such quiet kindness in this poem!
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Yes, just so…
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Oh, the lovely contentment of a sigh–breathed out by dogs, horses, people ❤️
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oh, yes…
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“from his pillow on the floor
he heaves that chest to sigh
a long and slow yes.” And old Tashi ( she’s caught up to my age) at the other end of the couch. Her sighs echoing mine, echoing memories when she romped on fiesta island. This poem is a full sigh. Thank you.
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my Josie curled up, content…
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Ahhhh. . . Thanks
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Jim’s great, isn’t he?
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Such full beautiful expression Jim Minick whom I don’t know except for your “Spoons,” and these “Breaths.” And of course Michael’s superb curatorship upon this “Poetry Sea” we sail upon daily and gaily.
We have those “fateful” dogs in our life. Can tell its time in minutes, years, children, and eras, with them. And those animal breaths end as we’re still present in the accounting of our own longer if not quieter ones as somehow, we go on and further than they.
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Thanks, Sean. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to publish so many wonderful poets like you and Jim.
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