In This World... Poem by RIC BASTASA

some people offer you a
solution to survive more years
for you to live and less
pain

they require you to remove
your face
kneel before them
and they want you naked
(not the literal nudity
but the one with built-in
metaphors)

and then they require you
further to chant their names everyday
of the week
in exchange for a plate of rice
and three pieces of dried
fish

so cheap have you become


not only that
they spit on you
(there is no pain alright
but humiliation is more painful
than the kick)

and when you have all done
what they ask you
to do

they order you to stand
and they pat your back and say

good job

and you are ordered to leave them
for a while
as they indulge in the privacy of
their business conversations
secrets perhaps and you

wait outside the door
and you feel like a
poodle or
a shiz tzu

but whatever appellation you
attach to it

you are still within the category
of those pet dogs

or simply a
dog

wagging tails
roll, stand
sit

catch the stick


yet somehow your logic
makes the
dog world sad.