Kickass time and nature’s cycles

Kickass, the doorstop dog, says there is now so much natural symbolism around about every last cellular structure having a time, and an end, that the keeper is contemplating having himself bronzed.

One of the old oaks is losing top leaves, woodbine creeps toward the house like hungry octopi, milkweed—including butterfly weed, is long done flowering and gone to pod making, and the robins’ nest is as empty as the rocking chair where an important long-gone companion once put grandchildren to sleep.

The keeper tries not to deny the inevitable rules of nature, but he plans to be damn testy about losing top leaves when the time comes.