If There Is Much In The Window There Should Be More In The Room

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Walking the Dog by Howard Nemerov


Two universes mosey down the street
Connected by love and a leash and nothing else.
Mostly I look at lamplight through the leaves
While he mooches along with tail up and snout down,
Getting a secret knowledge through the nose
Almost entirely hidden from my sight.

We stand while he's enraptured by a bush
Till I can't stand our standing any more
And haul him off; for our relationship
Is patience balancing to this side tug
And that side drag; a pair of symbionts
Contented not to think each other's thoughts.

What else we have in common's what he taught,
Our interest in shit. We know its every state
From steaming fresh through stink to nature's way
Of sluicing it downstreet dissolved in rain
Or drying it to dust that blows away.
We move along the street inspecting shit.

His sense of it is keener far than mine,
And only when he finds the place precise
He signifies by sniffing urgently
And circles thrice about, and squats, and shits,
Whereon we both with dignity walk home
And just to show who's master I write the poem.


Howard Nemerov had been the recipient of numerous literary awards and prizes, including the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. He was chosen Poet Laureate of the United States in 1988.

Although Nemerov is known foremost for his many poems, during his career he also distinguished himself as a writer of short stories, novels, essays, and criticism.

A review in 'The Nation' characterized him thus: "Nemerov's virtues are all in fact unfashionable ones for our time: vivid intelligence, an irreverent sense of humor, a mastery of formal verse, an awareness of mystery."