right hand pointing

A r b u s

 

 

The Flaw

 

1

 

There was a dog that came

at twilight every day.

A big dog. Kind of a mutt.

He would come and just stare at me.

I mean a dog, not barking, not licking,

just looking right through you.

I don’t particularly like dogs.

Well, I love stray dogs,

dogs who don’t like people.

And that’s the kind of dog picture

I would take if I ever took a dog picture.

 

2

 

Nothing

is ever the same

as they said

it was.

It’s what I’ve

never seen before

that I recognize.

It’s a little bit

like walking

into an hallucination

without being

quite sure

whose it is.

 

3

 

You see someone on the street

and what you notice about them is the flaw.

It’s just extraordinary that we should

 

have been given these peculiarities.

And, not content with what we were given,

we create a whole other set.

 

And that’s what all this is a little about.

That somebody else’s tragedy

is not the same as your own.