Dog That I Am
I sing for the similarity and I moan for
the face, dog that I am, whippet that I was,
her face of exhaustion, lines in her forehead, her hair
uncombed and in brushed, the wind in her eyes, she could be from
Thrace, from Denmark, I could be from Rome
waiting for her command, I could be from
Egypt and dogging her and I cold be from
Spain, a silky wearing a sweater and she with
a scarf at her throat and another one over her mouth
bending to hold my face up, wearing a herring-bone
overcoat with deep pockets and buttons
circa 1940, 1950 with
black westies on her feet and neat little
lapets at the top, the neighborhood of Skinker
near a birch tree, only an accident,
just a mistake - I scream outright for the likeness.
-Gerald Stern -from Lyric, "Dog that I Am"
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