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Time of Need

By Allison Seay b. 1980 Allison Seay

In the road, a dog. Days dead,

that dog. Liliana was walking beside me awhile

(I am sure) and I was almost not crying but then found

what I was looking for.

She heaved it for me—all of it, the stench, the weight—

in her thin arms until it was too much.

Tired, she dragged the thing by its wasted paws

all the way home. Her dress was stained. This is how

I learned about love. She did not mind at all

the silent, steady distance I placed between us.

Source: Poetry (November 2011).

Biography

Allison Seay was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1980. She earned a BA in English at Mary Washington College (now University of Mary Washington) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 2002 and an MFA in poetry from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2005. Her honors include publication in such journals as Crazyhorse, the Southern Review, Meridian, Arts and Academe, and Pleiades. Her first book manuscript is under . . .

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