As I Contemplate Precarity, the Dogs Eat Their Breakfast by Jenna Wysong Filbrun

As I Contemplate Precarity, the Dogs Eat Their Breakfast

I would forget,
if it weren’t for the crunch
of kibble over the quiet
light as it awakens
from gray
to white,
how to keep on.

Each moment
is an invitation
extended for an instant—
the hunger of life
for itself, the heart
of souls resting
in my care.

Why can’t I be tender with myself?
Life moves through me,
asking me in,
opening the present
like a window.
If I can accept, fresh air
flows like breath.

I want to keep
my loves forever
just like this,
and I hope like hunger
the moment,
as it passes,
will never be gone.

*

Jenna Wysong Filbrun is the author of the poetry collection, Running Toward Water, forthcoming from Shanti Arts in 2026. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net and have appeared in Deep Wild Journal, Gyroscope Review, Wild Roof Journal, and other publications. She practices poetry to deepen her awareness of connection and loves to spend time at home and in the wild with her husband, Mike, and their dogs, Oliver and Lewis. Find her on Instagram @jwfilbrun.