Suzanne Bottelli's poetic moments of watery quiet

April 22, 2023 / 7:00 am

Each day during the month of April, KUOW is highlighting the work of Seattle-based poets for National Poetry Month. In this series curated by Seattle Civic Poet and Ten Thousand Things host Shin Yu Pai, you'll find a selection of poems for the mind, heart, senses, and soul.

uzanne Botelli's poem "What the Dog Saw" is rooted in and suffused with the watery quiet that can characterize some Seattle moments, bringing some consolation to difficult days.

Bottelli’s poems and book reviews have appeared in Poetry Northwest, Scoundrel Time, The Literary Review, Fine Madness, The International Examiner, and Prairie Schooner, among others. She is the author of two chapbooks, "The Feltville Formation" (Finishing Line Press) and "American Grubble" (Ravenna Press). She teaches ESL and coordinates the Education Program at Casa Latina in Seattle.

What the Dog Saw

Somehow the ferns always know how to fit. Grey stones. Green fronds.
In the pond, the golden fish shimmer their gaudy boas

above the murk. The rain stitches the surface of the water
to the surface of everything else.

Trying to walk as he once walked,
then to rest awhile, he lets us

coax him into eating. Maybe an egg.
Maybe a chicken’s heart. Finally,

a piece of kibble and a potato chip.
That’s my kind of dog.

Suddenly the mountain. The sky changes it,
is changed by it. The water stitches it to the beach.

Here in the foreground, stones and heather.
Deep in the dog, a heart beating.

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Shin Yu Pai
Host, Ten Thousand Things

Shin Yu Pai is the current Civic Poet for The City of Seattle (2023-24) and host of KUOW's podcast Ten Thousand Things (formerly The Blue Suit). She is an award-winning writer and visual artist based in Seattle.
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