Monet's Dog
In rare film
now turned to video
Claude Monet paints
in his garden
at Giverny
When he leaves his canvas
we see a small dog
follow behind him
To that small dog
Monet was everything
Perhaps somewhere the name
of that little dog
is mentioned
though Monet's painting
of the little dog
is just called
"Head of the Dog"
It didn't matter
to the little dog
that Monet was Monet
It doesn't matter
to us the name
of the little dog
nor the name Monet
We just see what Monet saw
after his paintings
became more than his garden
became to him
The little dog just saw
the garden and Monet
who stood there doing something
while the little dog panted
in the heat of a summer day
Monet likely held that dog
on that quiet evening
comforted by the company
of a small dog
I want to be comforted
by a little dog
to have that little dog
be everything
that Monet's little dog
was to him
and his paintings and my poems
to mean more to my children
than they do now
to Monet
and to me
Barry G. Wick
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