Dogma

Sucked and bitten I shake
puppy questions from dry dugs
of thought, leave the kennel
classroom to the litter of students
and trot down the street alone.
Store windows shelter my reflection
as my eyes tiptoe around crowded faces,
I shrink at the call of a familiar voice,
gallop away from a proffered greeting,
pad on stealthy notions toward a cave,
lest I am caught without my collar
and no one calls my owner.