The International Dog
(for Radical Ann)

There's a whole lot of work
going on in the grass
where the dog lies down with-
out a fear or care in the world.
He just keeps lapping up the sun,
living on borrowed time in charity.
No one can own that dog, no
one can interpret his special glances,
the bees scarcely know he is alive.
The sky withers throughout his days there.
Nothing makes a difference to the dog now.
He just finds a new way to sleep
and five thousand ways to roll around,
loll his tongue out and makes
his own promises, a stranger to the law.
They are all the same.