2026 Poetry Winner: "How to Explain Death to a Dog" by Lily Hansen

How to explain death to a dog

You can't.

You can’t look a 20 pound beagle

In its big brown doe eyes

And explain malignant metastatic tumors.

You can’t explain to the slobbering tongue

That despite medicine

And god

And pleading

Sometimes there is nothing

That can be done.

You can’t take his paw

And explain the absurd

Amount of paperwork that

Must be completed

When someone dies

You can’t take him on a walk

And explain that funerals

Aren't really for the dead.

They are for the ones left,

And no, he's not invited.

You can’t look at the wagging tail

And explain that you just came

From the service.

That there will be no familiar sent coming home

To fill his metallic dish.

You can’t explain death to a dog.

So you get back in the car

And pretend you can explain it to yourself

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Lily Hansen has been writing for about as long as she remembers. She is attending Kansas State University to pursue her degree in English. Her work can be found in the Pottawatomie County Times as well as her social media. She hopes to one day live in the arctic circle to write and drink caramel tea.