I remember late one night in Paris
speaking at length to a dog in English
about the future of American culture.
No wonder she kept cocking her head
as I went on about “summer movies”
and the intolerable poetry of my compatriots.
I was standing and she was sitting
on a dim street in front of a butcher shop,
and come to think of it, she could have been waiting
for the early morning return of the lambs
and the bleeding sides of beef
to their hooks in the window.
For my part, I had mixed my drinks,
trading in the tulip of wine
for the sharp nettles of whiskey.
Why else would I be wasting my time
and hers trying to explain “corn dog,”
“white walls,” and “March of Dimes”?
She showed such patience for a dog
without breeding while I went on—
in a whisper now after shouts from a window—
about “helmet laws” and “tag sale,”
wishing I had my camera
so I could take a picture of her home with me.
On the loopy way back to my hotel—
after some long and formal goodbyes—
I kept thinking how I would have loved
to hang her picture over the mantle,
where my maternal grandmother
now looks down from her height as always,
silently complaining about the choice of the frame.
Then, before dinner each evening
I could stand before the image of that very dog,
a glass of wine in hand,
submitting all of my troubles and petitions
to the court of her dark-brown, forgiving eyes.
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Excerpted from Dog Show by Billy Collins. Copyright © 2025 by Billy Collins. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Billy Collins
Billy Collins is the author of fifteen collections of poetry, including Sailing Alone Around the Room, Aimless Love and, most recently, Water, Water. He served two terms as United State Poet Laureate and is a former Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College and New York State Poet. He is a New York Public Library Literary Lion and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is currently “between dogs,” his most recent an Australian Shepherd mix named Jeannine. He lives in Winter Park, Florida, with his wife Suzannah.
