My companion, why weepest thou before the box of figments?
Why keepest this watch so late into the night?
The sight of my eyes perceives not the meaning of these lights,
But to the anvil of my ear comes a beautiful vibration.
Is this a distant thunder we hear?
O, praise the inauguration of these torrents,
May they soon wash across our streets and fields
So long now befouled with the excrement of bovines.
(Nay, not the posting of scat that informs the legion receptors of my muzzle,
But a deep and o'erwhelming putridity that turns away even this canine nose
--and turns also away the fellowship of our neighbors--
And keeps from our knowing the full length and breadth of our land,
Its many traces and paths and the fruitfulness we may there discover.)
Is this a trumpet call we hear, an alarm waking us
From a nightmare of apocalypse?
Before the wave of its resonance
Shades of anxiety and hobgoblins of scarcity
Seem to disperse and our eight-fold fears become as vapors
Blown away by a blast from the bellows of this artisan.
O humans of our territory
Prove now to us that the strangely large gray matter of your craniums
Is truly a storehouse of wisdom and not an armory alone.
Seize you now the swords and uzis of your mind
And use this forge to work them anew into plowshares and question marks.
Exegesis and commentary
I did not know Frida had such a liberal and heralding frame of mind. In fact, I've frequently assumed that if she could express a political affiliation she would be "conservative" in the sense that she prefers for things to remain as they are--and does not like for people to behave in unfamiliar or unconventional ways.
But she does value care and guidance, good pack manners, the regulation of greedy snatchingness (well, she'd like to be greedy and snatching herself but respects that we enforce portioning and the respect thereof), and a careful assessment of one's environment before rash action. Her behavior has always suggested the importance of a good show of strength, but that is usually accompanied with considerable anxiety on her part and she is quite happy when Nadja or I will manage new interactions with diplomatic approaches.
Except with terriers. She's been hearing about this War on Terriers for years now and she has taken it far too much to heart.
Posts
2 comments:
You know, I just also have to add that one thing that really boggled me during the campaign were reports that McCain polled far ahead of Obama among dog owners. Because McCain owns dogs and Obama doesn't.
Because the reason to choose someone to be your president, the leader of still (maybe) the most powerful nation is b/c that person is a "dog person." Not their values on foreign policy, health care, market regulation--no, base it on how many Westies they have at home.
What the hell is wrong with people? I mean, you all know how much I love dogs, and I do believe that an ability to feel a connection with this sentient creature of another species says something about one's level of compassion, but it just horrifies me to think that anyone's vote would come down to which candidate has dogs.
And, finally, I think that Obama's deliberate and gradual approach to dog ownership is probably better for the dog his family will ultimately have than the unconsidered "ooh I want a dog it's so cute" attitude that too often leads to lots of abandoned animals in shelters. Which kind of president would you rather have?
LOL, yes, I've always been suspicious of terriers too.
Blaise and Zoe (standard poodles) seemed to like regularity in the form of regularly getting whatever they wanted, but if I offered them too much of the same thing, activity, etc., they would give me a wilting "we have so already done that" look and refuse to budge until I offered something new and interesting interesting.
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