I love the things he complains about in this poem, and how he's sharing these complaints not just with any person, or dog, but a dog who speaks French. Delightful.
Le Chien
Billy Collins
I remember late one night in Paris
speaking at length to a dog in English
about the future of American culture.
speaking at length to a dog in English
about the future of American culture.
No wonder she kept cocking her head
as I went on about “summer movies”
and the intolerable poetry of my compatriots.
I was standing and she was sitting
on a dim street in front of a butcher shop,
and come to think of it, she could have been waiting
for the early morning return of the lambs
and the bleeding sides of beef
to their hooks in the window.
For my part, I had mixed my drinks,
trading in the tulip of wine
for the sharp nettles of whiskey.
Why else would I be wasting my time
and hers trying to explain “corn dog,”
“white walls,” and “the March of Dimes”?
She showed such patience for a dog
without breeding while I went on-
in a whisper now after shouts from a window-
about “helmet laws” and “tag sale”
wishing I only had my camera
so I could carry a picture of her home with me.
On the loopy way back to my hotel-
after some long and formal goodbyes-
I kept on thinking how I would have loved
to hang her picture over the mantel
where my maternal grandmother
now looks down from her heights as always,
silently complaining about the choice of the frame.
Then, before dinner each evening
I could stand before the image of that very dog
a glass of wine in hand,as I went on about “summer movies”
and the intolerable poetry of my compatriots.
I was standing and she was sitting
on a dim street in front of a butcher shop,
and come to think of it, she could have been waiting
for the early morning return of the lambs
and the bleeding sides of beef
to their hooks in the window.
For my part, I had mixed my drinks,
trading in the tulip of wine
for the sharp nettles of whiskey.
Why else would I be wasting my time
and hers trying to explain “corn dog,”
“white walls,” and “the March of Dimes”?
She showed such patience for a dog
without breeding while I went on-
in a whisper now after shouts from a window-
about “helmet laws” and “tag sale”
wishing I only had my camera
so I could carry a picture of her home with me.
On the loopy way back to my hotel-
after some long and formal goodbyes-
I kept on thinking how I would have loved
to hang her picture over the mantel
where my maternal grandmother
now looks down from her heights as always,
silently complaining about the choice of the frame.
Then, before dinner each evening
I could stand before the image of that very dog
submitting all of my troubles and petitions
to the court of her dark-brown, adoring eyes.
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