```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
BARK:
A Polemic
by David Meltzer
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Dog
thy full circle
leads to god. Thy name
mirror claims as
Dog.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
ADMONITION
Lassie is Mickey Mouse
Fido is a robot
Pluto is not Charlie Chaplin.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
I ran one down.
Now car chasing dogs
Cower from my car.He was a rear-wheel barker
Chased me half-way into town
Day after day
Barking.For what?
Dreamer.
No matter how or why you do it
You'll get run down.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Pass around pics of chicks in black patent-leather boots, pink bras, fucked by wolfhounds, German shepards, St Bernards. Motel-room camera gets it all. Cars outside the window day & night.
Dream of eagles & lions but we are dogs bark bark mounting her, our furry flanks slap against her hips bark bark. She always faces the camera smiling, you always look down in shame
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Bark is what us dogs do here in Dogtown
also shit on sidewalks doormats porches trails
wherever new shoes walk fearless.
Bark is what us dogs do here in Dogtown
it's a dog's life
we cant live without you.
Mirror you we are you.
Beneath your foot or on the garage roof.
You teach us speech bark bark
for biscuits we dance for you.
You push us thru hoops
& see our eyes as your eyes
but you got the guns the gas the poison
all of it.
Bark is what us dogs do here in Dogtown.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
It's what they teach in school.
Go for the throat.
If it moves, attack.
Mrs Callahan in 6th Grade said
To get ahead you gotta be a headhunter.
Shrink knowledge into know-how.
No difference between smart ones or dumb ones.
Everyone's called asshole.We learn after a while of it
How dangerous mind is.
A mine-field. Tread easy.
Minding the store is easy.
Not caring for any of it is hard,
Cracks shields.
Your flags & faces crash to the floor.
You gotta remember
It's the Ship of State that's carrying us away.
Not the people jumping off.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
When dog dies some cremate him & stuff what's
left into a jar that's stored & stacked in dog-death
pantry with all the rest.
Read the label.
It'll all come back.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
A dog tune sung last night by Fritz the Wonder Dog, 3 pints down. He upchucked the whole gut, worm & all, all over Smiley's floor.
One of many masters kicked his slats & dog-lovers poured pitchers of Coor's over Fritz the Wonder Dog, trying to suck back his wormy gut. Suddenly a bloody snake on the saloon floor.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Almost there
crushed dog
slammed to death
whilst stuck
in hot bitch.
Both went
neither came.
O merciful God
cares not for
crushed dog.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Dog shot in his pocket with shots of all the kids. Polaroid snap from a birthday party. Wears a bowtie & party hat, says Arf Arf, looks like he's smiling. His tongue hangs down to the floor already cluttered with wrapping paper, ribbons.
*
Dog-shot in a shell
sniper fills each dawn.
Sits on the ledge of a ridge overlooking town.
Waits for a pack to come barking by
chasing-down a deer or goat.Somebody's always there
higher up
waiting to order your race thru life.*
Dog snout stains glass doorpane.
Keep him out until the weather shifts.
Prisoner of war.
A map of mange on his back.
Can't cure death.
Ask anybody.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
I sent him to school & when he comes back he can
walk with me down any street.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Dog eat dog.
Can't you see it?
Everybody's got a bite on
Everybody else.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
DOGGIE DINER
Doggie Diner lights bruise our faces.
*
Doggie Diner coffee in a paper cup
gets soggy
bums lips
breaks open
cream-no-sugar
burns my knees
spills on the floor
soaks into my sneakers.*
on a leash
in orbit
spaceman
free-fall
wired into
master ship*
on a leash
window washer*
telephone lineman
harnessed to a pole
Rover pisses on*
on a leash
doin time
chain gang*
on a leash
born*
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
ADMONITION
A war of power
Ours against theirs
A waste of time
Ours & theirs.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
leashed to each other
sure of light at road's end
bark bark
rainbows in every can of wild horse
gold at bowl's bottompulled thru space
all stance brief
leashed to each other
go walk the dog
curb your appetite
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Open the door for the paper
milk & cottage cheese.
5 new puppies in a shredded Mexican basket
eyes sealed, root for tit.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Shameless hussy Bella had litter upon litter. At first we gave em away until nobody was left to give em too & we're not the kind to sit around in shopping center parkinglots with puppies to give away to all comers. We took to drowning em in the bathtub which was really something to see how some of em died fighting & others hardly moved. After a while of it we couldnt wait for Bella to get into heat & get knocked-up with more for us to get rid of. Me & the little lady got a good thing going. New ways each day to meet new strangers. That's life, dumb fucker, that's the old ballgame.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
It's either them or us.
Make room make room.
Open the drawer for socks &
ten more of them
leap out barking.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Neutered spayd
Fixed altered
Stud & bitch
Walk around in circles
Trying to remember
Something like
What to do
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
We came & never left your side.
Your damned hands never stop grabbing.
All we wanted was the warmth of your fires.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Tagged & coded
Licensed & collared
Jew
Now you can walk our streets.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Mistress is puzzled & angry.
"I wish they'd speak English. What are they saying? I must have the secret."
Does he know?
She buckles a chemical collar around his neck.
The circle spreads death to fleas.
"It's for your own good."
Branded for life.
Arf arf
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
SAFEWAY SUPER MARKET
A kid in a harness hooked to a leash
wrapped around the iron stem of a turnstile
crying for anybody to unhook him*
Wild brown eyed small dog
throws himself against a closed car-window.
Locked up again
he barks & whines & attacks the glass
clak clak clak clak
clawnails hit the shield.
Prisoner of Zenda
dog in the iron mask*
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Tic dome
Fat belly of blood
Screwd-in
Solid behind
Floppy silk spaniel ear.
Twist & turn it out.
Often they explode between your fingertips.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Barking fire of dogpack
races down a cow. Her eyes
wild with fear, foam
breaks off her slack lips,
drops on grass stalks,
her clumsy footfalls chew-up earth.In packs dogs are sleek.
They move together in formation.
Cows & goats & deers & possums dont last long.
But Mack the farmer sees to it clogs dont either.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
ADMONITION
Men who wear numbers
know the score.
Men who don't
keep score.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Dog who didn't know he was a dog climbed up a tree & hung from a branch by his tail, swinging back & forth, singing a song that sounded as if it were coming out of a tenor saxophone.
"Dogs dont do such things," a master said who passed by the tree.
He put dog in his place & gave him a name & a collar & trained him with a rolled-up newspaper never to sing again.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Dog stinks of sea & rain
lays before the fireplace.
Ribbons of stink-aura steam off his hide.
Out damned Spot.
Out.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
After a poetry reading in Seattle a well-meaning historian reminded me that before the invention of the car there was enough horseshit in the streets of New York City to probably build the city of Los Angeles.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
In Bolinas town-dogs hang around like dandies, hang-out like candystore cut-ups, lost for action, always under foot.
In their eyes the signal: What's happening? Que pasa? Vas machstu? Where's the action? In Bolinas town-dogs are bored & thoroughly collectivized. They are free dogs, liberated from masters, they eat from house to house. Low to the ground to imitate a small dog they eat out of the smaller dog's backyard bowl until small dog's master hits big dog in the rib-cage with a chip of broken glass nobody will sew up.
Last week a young woman hit a young man's > dog & the young man said he would cure the dog with Black Magic & cursed the woman with Black Magic & told her not to touch his animal because all women are polluted & he didnt want his animal to be polluted. The dog remained an attentive audience. He was uninjured.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sheep, dogs, horses.
Dog's the smartest of the three.
But you can wear sheep,
eat sheep too.
Horses get you somewhere.
Dogs dont.*
Dog sits on the floor
licking his privates.
It springs out like a flower
folded in a pink bulb.*
Sheepdogs are smart & keep sheep together.
Some people eat dog when the going gets rough.
Other people eat dog when time's are great.
I wonder how dog tastes now that I'm a vegetarian?
Horse-meat fillets tasted sweet like venison.*
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Bit by a dog in the rain in Brooklyn. A crescent row of teeth holes Doc swabbed out with silver nitrate "in case of ray-bees" he said which I thought meant either evil rabbis or hysterical babies or fantastic sciencefiction bees.
I was a kid & all facts were taught thru movie-screens & radio. Neither as I recall had teeth.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Dog my totem
Lion my first name
Dog my totem
Completely colonialized.
knows dog knows man
flashed back.
Dog is Jew
Dog is Black
Dog is Blues
Dog is Poor
Dog is You
Dog is smart or dumb or mixed-up he's called Mutt.
Dog my totem.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
ADMONITION
The darkness is met in many ways.
May I advise the following.See it as if it were light.
See if it isn't fire.
Or if it's a star sucked into itself,
try pitching it back to Death.
Then run.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Dog
thy full circle
leads to God, thy name
mirror claims as
Dog.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
AFTER WORDS
"Polemic".
Pole: holds up a flag, an emblem for the wind to move about.
No arguments allowed. One-way street.
Facet, aspect. One-sided.
Endemic: re, place. We live in Bolinas which was called in the late 19th century, "Dogtown," for good reason. Prophetic.
Polar: unwavering line. "Hard line," "hard nose," etc. To the point. No ornament.
Emission as well as emetic.
Poles apart yet polar. From place to place.
That sums some of the parts of the word. The style is soapbox, not poetry.
I dedicate this book in particular to Eileen Callahan.
Arf arf.DM
Bolinas, 1972, Summer
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Bark: A Polemic was first published by Capra Press, Santa Barbara, CA. It is presented here complete.
Copyright © 1973 by David Meltzer.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Light and Dust Mobile Anthology of Poetry.