Unleashed, uncoiled, she rips atop the frag-rock, springs up an Adirondack, shoots the armhole, circles a table, tunnels under wispy plants that cast pollen where she’ll freeze, stop cold, panting beneath a yellow cloud, an icy eye appears — hiding! — until shrubs betray her cover with leafy shivers.  

No rest, she bolts, and pulls into a spin, a black-white blur — colors! — exorcistic tail chase, dizzy around a fountain, kicks a spray of stone clattering into siding — frightening! — beeline sprint into omnivorous vines — no! — the overgrown tangle devours a gas meter, climbs a spout, gropes hungry along gutter, tendril threads weave green like lit fusing, the pup dive bombs into this catacomb-chloroclysm, a plunge — possessed! — tussle, strangle, filthy crazed animal, snapping twigs, vines quiver — loose! — she claws across pine bark, scrabbles, skids over wet stone like a skier about to beach, terra unfirma, flower destroyer, decimated bed of humus oozes black, sunken white paws: wet nose huffs, chuffs, smells of dank earth love.

Head-tilt, dumb beast stare, pink syrupy drool, tentative scratch, scrape, dig, bolder dig, boldest dual-claw dig, rapid double-shovel dig stuck on overdrive, paws blur, bit clods of dirt spit, spatter on rock-stone like flicks of paint on canvas, nose-deep, nose-flecked, uprooting worms, slugs, snails, organic turnover, back-scratch, fur-coat slimed, beetles burrow unsafe from nose, mouth, paws.  Bitch stills.

Listens for rustles.  Ears auriculate, forward and back, seek and — pounce! — harass the flightless baby birds, joy, red-in-tooth, reckless, slide headlong into stone ledge, concrete edge, clumsy, snort, head shake, yelp, body shake, untamed eyes, mouth open, teeth gleaming.

She looks to see — you catching this? — before her final sneaky moves, a squeaker pulled squeaking from a fuzzed and matted, rain-soaked throat, a limpid squirrel that squeaks no more, a new toy now, old shoe, flap of tongue clenched in a pink jaw lock, a backpedal drag, snag on mortar lip, rubber sole bounce, she’s bracing her sole nemesis, snout down, butt up, like a beefy Olympian winding up a hammer, swinging in grand curves — release! — a shoe flies into the sky, she streaks under and scampers away, off the chain again.