Letting the Dog In

by Emily Ruppel


Whereas the cat has found her way

along the low roof and through

– a quick and weightless leap –

the open window of the master

room, the dog croons wearily to

an implacable moon, fastened

as he is by gravity and obedience

to the big oak in the midnight yard.

 

Rain falls faster, fuller, the master

still at large come one a.m. I’m curling

my tongue round the pads of my paws,

attenuating their wetness in

the warmth of the guttering fire.

 

I hear you, yes, and feel the surge 

of what must be pity—a broad,

ambiguous heave of it. Less for you,

perhaps, than for your dimly

imagined ancestors, that they

trustingly and with such buoyance

year after vanishing year made

the selections they did.

Emily Ruppel has been writing novels since she was five years old, beginning with Blacky, (about a black horse), and quickly followed by Blacky Out West, neither of which can be purchased on Amazon.com. 

Yet.

Until that day comes, Emily will be living and working in Pittsburgh as a doctoral student in the Rhetoric of Science program at Pitt. If you've ever heard someone say, "The data speak for themselves," then you might know what's at the heart of Emily's research when she says: "No, they don't."

Before heading to Pittsburgh, Emily enjoyed serving as the Associate Director of Communications for the American Scientific Affiliation and as the Web Editor for The BioLogos Foundation. She continues the editing and publishing of God & Nature magazine as a freelance project for the ASA. Contact Emily with questions and comments at: [email protected]