April 03

Some of Gary Snyder's poems seemed like they would be harder to write about so I am writing about "Dog" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.  One thing in this poem confused me; Coit's Tower.  Why would a dog be afraid of a tower.  I googled the tower and found that it was put up at the request of a woman who began dressing like a man before it was acceptable for women to do so.  The tower actually resembles a fire hose nozzle, but it was not meant to be so.  The woman was an honorary firefighter and that is what most people believe it was designed to do.  I suppose a fire hose would hurt if put to a dog..??  I still don't understand why the dog would be afraid.  I like the little bit of comedy that is put in sort-of matter-of-factly when Ferlinghetti writes, "He would rather eat a tender cow / than a tough policeman / though either would do"(28-30).  The dog sees things that are smaller than himself and larger than himself, but he is a serious dog who "has his own free world to live in / His own fleas to eat / [and] He will not be muzzled"(41-43).  There is also a political element saying that the dog would pee on a House of Representatives' Un-American Activities Committee member and that the dog is a democratic dog who has something to say about the reality of things.  This suggests that democrats are the only ones who can express the reality of things and that some congressmen are nothing more than something to be looked down upon.