16For the dexterity of his defense is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord's poor, and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually--Poor Jeoffry!
poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can sit up with gravity, which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick, which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master's bosom.
For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Icneumon rat, very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire.
For the electrical fire is the spiritual substance which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements. For, though he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped. For he can tread to all the measures upon the music. For he can swim for life. For he can creep.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021) was an American poet and painter who lived most of his life in San Francisco. He was identified by many as a Beat poet, although he refused the designation. Ferlinghetti had a populist and democratic attitude to life, critical of political authority At the same time, his poems often moved from the mundane to the metaphysical. In this poem, we inhabit the consciousness of the dog walking in San Francisco, treating Congressman Doyle as just another fire hydrant to urinate on, while at the same time raising ultimate questions about the meaning of existence.
Dog
The dog trots freely in the street and sees reality and the things he sees are bigger than himself
and the things he sees are his reality Drunks in doorways Moons on trees
The dog trots freely thru the street and the things he sees are smaller than himself Fish on newsprint Ants in holes
Chickens in Chinatown windows
their heads a block away
The dog trots freely in the street
and the things he smells
smell something like himself
The dog trots freely in the street
past puddles and babies
cats and cigars
poolrooms and policemen
He doesn't hate cops
He merely has no use for them
and he goes past them
and past the dead cows hung up whole
in front of the San Francisco Meat Market
He would rather eat a tender cow
than a tough policeman
though either might do
And he goes past the Romeo Ravioli Factory
and past Coit's Tower
and past Congressman Doyle
He's afraid of Coit's Tower
but he's not afraid of Congressman Doyle
although what he hears is very discouraging
very depressing
very absurd
to a sad young dog like himself to a serious dog like himself But he has his own free world to live in His own fleas to eat He will not be muzzled Congressman Doyle is just another fire hydrant to him
The dog trots freely in the street and has his own dog's life to live and to think about and to reflect upon
touching and tasting and testing everything
investigating everything
without benefit of perjury
a real realist
with a real tale to tell
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Ecopoiesis: Eco-Human Theory and Practice. 2023, Volume 4, № 2. ISSN 2713-184X
© Ecopoiesis, 2023
and a real tail to tell it with a real live
barking
democratic dog engaged in real
free enterprise with something to say
about ontology
something to say
about reality
and how to see it
and how to hear it
with his head cocked sideways
at streetcorners as if he is just about to have
his picture taken
for Victor Records
listening for
His Master's Voice
and looking
like a living question mark into the great gramaphone of puzzling existence with its wondrous hollow horn which always seems just about to spout forth
some Victorious answer to everything.
