POETRY FRIDAY: Dog Music by Paul Zimmer

I never had a dog as a pet when I was growing up. My daughter got a yellow lab last year. Her dog Jack is truly a character—and a rascal. My husband and I enjoy visiting with him—and dog-sitting. Now I know how much fun--and how entertaining--dogs can be!

I went looking for a dog poem to post today—and found Dog Music by Paul Zimmer. Zimmer has written several of my favorite poems. I found this one really touching.


Dog Music
by Paul Zimmer

Amongst dogs are listeners and singers.
My big dog sang with me so purely,
puckering her ruffled lips into an O,
beginning with small, swallowing sounds
like Coltrane musing, then rising to power
and resonance, gulping air to continue—
her passion and sense of flawless form—
singing not with me, but for the art of dogs.
We joined in many fine songs—"Stardust,"
"Naima," "The Trout," "My Rosary," "Perdido."
She was a great master and died young,
leaving me with unrelieved grief,
her talents known to only a few.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

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I made a special "doggy" video for Poetry Friday that I've posted at Wild Rose Reader. The video includes pictures that I took of my daughter’s dog Jack and two original poems—Dirty Dog, a triolet, and Dog, a mask poem. Here’s a link to my post at Wild Rose Reader—A Poetry Friday Video: Two Poems for Jack.

At Political Verses, I have another Sarah Palin post. It includes a link to William Shatner performing an excerpt from Palin’s farewell speech as poetry on the Conan O’Brien Show. Here’s the link to that post— Sarah Palin: A Farewell Speech and Poem.


Sylvia Vardell is doing the Poetry Friday Roundup this week at Poetry for Children.