Some of the best poems you'll read - Perigee
Some of the best poems you'll read - Perigee
Some of the best poems you'll read - Perigee
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"Man and Dog"<br />
by Amanda Reynolds<br />
The homeless man<br />
who sits at <strong>the</strong> exit <strong>of</strong> I-75 and Archer<br />
now has a dog.<br />
At least, I think he's homeless,<br />
and <strong>the</strong> rest <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> story<br />
is debatable.<br />
Did he steal it?<br />
Who'd give a homeless man a dog?<br />
What dog would be so dim<br />
as to choose this guy?<br />
In Pittsburgh, one homeless man<br />
made fifty thousand last year.<br />
He played a trumpet and Christmas<br />
was especially rewarding.<br />
For months I've hated him,<br />
<strong>the</strong> man that is.<br />
Air conditioning blasting<br />
and check engine light on<br />
I waited at a red light one day.<br />
His sign said Please Help.<br />
I tried to look like I wasn't watching.<br />
He threw a soda bottle ten feet<br />
into <strong>the</strong> grass.<br />
Hedonism:<br />
a shiny car that goes faster<br />
than it needs to,<br />
fresh fruit, television.<br />
Or: clean clo<strong>the</strong>s, a ro<strong>of</strong>,<br />
expensive dog food in a can.<br />
So, at midnight<br />
I'm at <strong>the</strong> grocery store buying<br />
rubber squeakers, chicken and rice pellets,<br />
pig ears, flea cream in a plastic tube.<br />
And I'll have to wait until morning<br />
to see him look at a shopping bag<br />
filled with <strong>of</strong>ferings
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