In her own words... |
About this work |
|
"Wisdom Tinged with Joy"2006 Out of the mouths of city dogs
have come some useful truths.
Barks and whines—noise to some—
are fraught with ancient wisdom.
A dog, to share his basic instinct,
will warn, say, of the landlord
at the door to spoil your day.
“Don’t open,” he barks. In vain. When the van is loaded: lap-top,
mattresses, and microwave,
a wise dog rides in stoic silence
to the new (smaller) apartment
where joyously he soon resumes
his job of watching over rooms.
|
 “Wisdom Tinged with Joy” was first published in The New Yorker, February 6, 2006, p. 77. It is also included in Dorothea Tanning's book, Coming to That: Poems, New York: Graywolf Press, 2011, p. 47, and may not be reprinted without the publisher's permission. |
