Annabelle in the Airwaves

Sofie Laguna
Illustrated by Mitch Vane

Thank you Annabelle
Golden pup
For all those gifts of rolled-up socks
On the doorstep
Yellow dog
Milk-eyed
Retriever
Thank you
For surviving
Mum's repeated
Slit-eye beatings
Punishment
For pissing on floors
Tearing apart
That pale
Too precious garden

Four of us children
And a savage divorce
You carried
On your squat waddling back
Like the Pal-eating princess
You always were
Trusted
When all else was lions and fire

It was me
Who found
Your greying body
Wheezing
Cancer-eyed
In the uncut grass
Behind the house
I am so sorry for your abandonment
But I too
Went hungry

Angel dog
I commune with you still
In the car, late at night, tear-faced
I imagine you're somewhere in the airwaves
Watching me
As carefully
As you did the night
When nobody came home
We turned on every light in the house
And sat
By the front door
Waiting
Together.