beatrice

by Tom Bennett

for the only dog to survive the RMS Titanic

First, the mum with gurgling heart unfurls

her linen jumpers inside a leather trunk

as bedding for two boys she stows like pearls.

Later, the stokers from lower decks hurling

their bodies of bread to the water’s spume

knowing that anything’s better than burning.

Last, the owner sat alone in his room

his pup lost in the browns of a lady’s fur

the last small sacrifice to sweeten his doom.

That this were the leg spasm of a dozing cur

too close to the fire and not the poem written

with words, like brains, blasted across the paper.

Tom Bennett is an English teacher from South Wales. His poems have appeared in Reed Magazine, Ink, Sweat and Tears and others. His short fiction has appeared in Litro and Pushing Out The Boat.