{"id":182,"date":"2009-05-19T10:38:03","date_gmt":"2009-05-19T14:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cynthomas.com\/dogblog\/?p=182"},"modified":"2009-05-19T10:38:03","modified_gmt":"2009-05-19T14:38:03","slug":"dog-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/journal\/dog-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Dog Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dharma\"We dogs are poetry. Simple as that.<\/strong><\/span>
\n___________________________<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dharma<\/strong>
\nThe way the dog trots out the front door
\nevery morning
\nwithout a hat or an umbrella,
\nwithout any money
\nor the keys to her doghouse
\nnever fails to fill the saucer of my heart
\nwith milky admiration.<\/p>\n

Who provides a finer example
\nof a life without encumbrance\u2014
\nThoreau in his curtainless hut
\nwith a single plate, a single spoon?
\nGandhi with his staff and his holy diapers?<\/p>\n

Off she goes into the material world
\nwith nothing but her brown coat
\nand her modest blue collar,
\nfollowing only her wet nose,
\nthe twin portals of her steady breathing,
\nfollowed only by the plume of her tail.<\/p>\n

If only she did not shove the cat aside
\nevery morning
\nand eat all his food
\nwhat a model of self-containment she
\nwould be,
\nwhat a paragon of earthly detachment.
\nIf only she were not so eager
\nfor a rub behind the ears,
\nso acrobatic in her welcomes,
\nif only I were not her god.<\/p>\n

~Billy Collins, a US Poet Laureate<\/strong><\/p>\n

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