‘Dog’

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

  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 of the Unamerican Committee
  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
  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 questionmark
				         into the
			                 great gramophone
			             of puzzling existence
             with its wondrous hollow horn
	      which always seems
                 just about to spout forth
			           some Victorious answer
				       to everything

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, ‘Dog’ from ‘A Coney Island of the Mind: Poems’.
©1958 Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

I first heard ‘Dog’ set to music and performed by Bob Dorough introduced by Bob Dylan, on his ‘Theme Time Radio’ program. The track appears on the album ‘Jazz Canto’

The ‘Theme Time Radio’ programs were freely available on the web but it seems no more. They can be bought on CD or downloaded in MP3 form from Amazon or the like. Currently the programs are or perhaps were broadcast daily on DylanRadio at Noon & 10pm Atlantic Daylight Time, which is 4pm and 2am in summertime UK, I wrote this in the summertime.

Yes! I managed to find a Basset Hound tie up. The above is an excerpt from a page on the website of dylanradio, picturing it seems the aftermath of a party celebrating Dylan’s 70th birthday on the 23rd May 2011, ‘an internet radio station featuring music, live concerts, interviews, covers and radio programs by, or inspired by, singer/songwriter Bob Dylan’.

The clip below is from ‘Beat Thing’ - a performance/reading by Ann and Samuel Charters, with the assistance of Björn Lundqvist on the bass. Here we have Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poem, ‘Dog’ read with a little explanation of the background to Ferlinghetti and the poem. At ‘English Bookshop’, Stockholm, Gamla Stan (Old Town), 8^th September 2011. For more information on Ferlinghetti try The Poetry Foundation.

Five poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

1. Constantly Risking Absurdity

2. Dog

3. Away Above a Harborful . . .

4. London Crossfigured

5. Monet's Lilies Shuddering

hound features ☞

'Pity the Nation' another Ferlinghetti poem ☞