December 5, 2022, Filed Under: Authors“Dog” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti 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 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 gramaphone of puzzling existence with its wondrous hollow horn which always seems just about to spout forth some Victorious answer to everything Lawrence Ferlinghetti (American, 1919–2021) was a poet, essayist, activist, and co-founder of San Francisco’s City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. He was also a prolific visual artist. The Ransom Center recently acquired a collection of Ferlinghetti’s sketchbooks, paintings, drawings, and prints, including original cover designs for two books of his poetry. A sampling of this acquisition, a generous gift and partial purchase from the Lawrence Ferlinghetti Artworks Trust, is on display this fall in the Ransom Center’s gallery. Image: Photo of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights Books editorial office, San Francisco. Copyright © 1984 by Allen Ginsberg, courtesy of the Allen Ginsberg Estate and used by permission of The Wylie Agency LLC.
