A Response Poem Shared by Zoe/Assignment

48. To A Stranger Born In Some Distant Country Hundreds Of Years From Now - Billy Collins

I write poems far a stranger who will be born in some distant country hundreds of years from now. – Mary Oliver

 

Nobody here likes a wet dog.

No one wants anything to do with a dog

that is wet from being out in the rain

or retrieving a stick from a lake.

Look how she wanders around the crowded pub tonight

going from one person to another

hoping for a pat on the head, a rub behind the ears,

something that could be given with one hand

without even wrinkling the conversation.

 

But everyone pushes her away,

some with a knee, others with the sole of a boot.

Even the children, who don’t realize she is wet

until they go to pet her,

push her away

then wipe their hands on their clothes.

And whenever she heads toward me,

I show her my palm, and she turns aside.

 

O stranger of the future!

O inconceivable being!

whatever the shape of your house,

no matter how strange and colorless the clothes you

may wear,

I bet nobody there likes a wet dog either.

I bet everybody in your pub

even the children, pushes her away.

Assignment: Please write a RESPONSE POEM in response to the poem you brought in today. If that does not inspire you, you have my permission to respond to the Mary Oliver quotation above or the poem above.