From the collection The Immediate and No Sooner, 2021.
Shadorma 296
6/19/20
Nerves tensed up
we wait. Barking dog
quiet now
but will he
start up again? Oh I wish
he’d stroke out and die
Shadorma 297
6/19/20
Breathe again
Don’t say settle down
Say kick hard
at the door
closed in your face. No demure.
No bashful. Kick hard.
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
That first one I could have written about the neighbor’s dog! He finally did die but he barked right up to the very end!!
This dog is still around but he doesn’t seem to be outside as much. He has an irritating intermittent bark. Just when you think it’s over…there he goes again. I am less aggravated by it now than when I wrote the poem but still…