My Dog Is Me Poem by Glen Kappy
My Dog Is Me
Summer. Early Sunday morning.
People with their dogs
some straining at their leashes
others better trained
are at the heels or walk beside
their masters and their mistresses.
And then the moments
where the dogs squat down
this followed by the people bending low
to scoop their business from the ground.
And all—the park so quiet—
done in a near pantomime.
My eyes look out from sockets
in this head of mine
and take in sunlight on the grass
the standing life of every tree
the legs of mine in forward motion
making for an ever-changing scene.
My business done before I left my house
and later after I return
no leash attached or in my hand
I'm animal and person like the rest
the main exception being
that my dog is me.
and later after I return no leash attached or in my hand I'm animal and person like the rest the main exception being that my dog is me. - - - - - - - This is an excellent write- - -We all are part of nature- - - -How different are we from other animals in the eyes of Mother Nature ? Sunlight falls on earth for all - -dogs and humans alike.But how we receive and how much we receive depend upon our perception.Like a leash we also control our emotions.
hi, bharati! nice to see your comment. thank you! i've never had a dog—and wouldn't unless i lived in a place where one could roam free. i tend to like medium-size friendly dogs (like the one in my poem another glimpse of whitman) because i feel a kinship with them. with similar appetites and bodily functions we are indeed much like our animal brothers and sisters. -glen
thanks again, brother, for your reading and comments. subtext for this, i think, is the memory of st. francis referring to his body as brother and of learning a song in junior high where i understood the lyrics addressing a donkey as referring to my own (stubborn, unwilling) body. we are animal or part animal—created that way and, therefore, it's not something to be ashamed of. -glen
I really like the second stanza and how you deftly reach the title theme in the last line. This is a poem of humility in so far as you see yourself as part of a larger whole. But there was an inner necessity which drove you directly to this perception. It wasn't a pure accident, it wasn't manipulated by you. It happened because it was meant to happen or because you were ready for it. Or both. This is the experience of Mystery which like virtue is its own reward.
Hey, Robert! And thanks for the reading and the comment. Funny how this idea struck me just this morning when Ive witnessed much the same scenes in the same park for years. Wishing all the best to you, Glen
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/21/2024 2:26:11 PM # 1.0.0.1119
I find rich implications in your analogy. Like a dog, the human body is eager for exercise. By means of a companion animal (or one's own body) , one can maintain links to the natural world. Although animal traits may been altered by domestication, they are part of nature nonetheless.
thanks for reading this poem and your comments, denis. you've got me exactly! good to know that i've communicated what i intended. appreciatively, glen