Warning Signs

Beware of Dog
read the sign
and I thought
how much easier it
would be
if we all wore
a sign
like
that:
Beware of Trauma.
Guarding us
from the unknown
as we eye
one another,
wondering:
is your dog
the vicious kind?
A doberman
perhaps?
Or a pit bull?
Or is it all bark
but really
a chihuahua?
And will it
come at me
teeth glaring,
snot foaming?
Or will it
wag its tail -
like recognizing
like?

