Let your dog run
see where it goes
what it turns up
what it brings back
a hollow yellow ball
a blue baby shoe
a rabbit-skin glove
the thumb torn off
a shimmering star-
ling fluttering in
its mouth
a broken wing
its eyes spark-
ling beads of ebony
its burnished beak
locked open
a tongue inside.
Badger born and bred, Dion Kempthorne was a linebacker on the 1963 Wisconsin Rose Bowl team. He earned a PhD in English from UW-Madison, and then taught English in the UW Colleges and served as CEO/Dean at UW-Richland.
Wisconsin Academy Offices
1922 University Avenue
Madison, Wisconsin 53726
Phone: 608.733.6633
James Watrous Gallery
3rd Floor, Overture Center for the Arts
201 State Street
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608.733.6633 x25
