The dog, the egg and the everlasting lolly

[Jerrybaldy]

The dog was drowning in the dock yard,
I watched him from the cafe window,
as I toyed with egg and chips.
Like the dog, the crane behind would soon be gone
like the crane, my egg and chips
would not be there for long.
I poked the dog in the morning
when he washed up on the jetty,
mottled hair and cloudy eyes.
Maybe I could have saved him
and sacrificed my egg;
I scratched my chin and finished
my everlasting lolly.
I decided as I threw him back,
he never wanted saving.

[CellarDoor]

Eccentric and disconcerting sentiment here, it makes me wonder who the dog is... ;-) And I really like the idea of finishing an everlasting lolly as it seems an almost a throw away line, which makes it carry even more impetus in this context.

[Jack of Hearts]

Was having similar thoughts lately, about mortality, the passing of time, etc. Isn't the saying 'all things must pass' supposed to make you feel better?

Anyway, not sure why the narrator determined the dog 'never wanted saving', but there's all sorts of inferences to draw.






J

[IceM]

The dog was drowning in the dock yard,
I watched him from the cafe window,
as I toyed with egg and chips.
Like the dog, the crane behind would soon be gone
like the crane, my egg and chips
would not be there for long.
I poked the dog in the morning
when he washed up on the jetty,
mottled hair and cloudy eyes.
Maybe I could have saved him
and sacrificed my egg;
I scratched my chin and finished
my everlasting lolly.
I decided as I threw him back,
he never wanted saving.

Absolutely love this. My favorite of all of your postings, no doubt. When I read this, I honestly imagined it in the Perrine's anthology, the book they use to teach literature to 12th grade lit students. Absolutely brilliant.

Jack, I believe the narrator tells himself the dog "never wanted saving" as an excuse for not "sacrificing [his] egg" to save him earlier.

"Like the dog...for long" were my absolute favorite lines.

I loved this poem. Thank you for sharing.

[Jerrybaldy]

Thanks Cellardoor and Jack.
Not familiar with perrine, IceM, but thank you very much for your comments and you are absolutely right on the narrators excuse.

[qimissung]

I can't match IceM's ability to dissect why he likes it-but I liked it a lot, and I think he may be right in saying it's one of your best, and that it's brilliant.

[Jerrybaldy]

Thank you qimissung for your very kind words.