“If they’re so holy,
where are their books?” *
She said
biting and frustrated
after too much coffee
Wrestling with the perfect sentence on an empty stomach

I say, dogs don’t have books because
They don’t need time and space
To separate them from experience
To manipulate their emotions
Feed their addictions

We’re caught up in yesterday
or a string of tomorrows –
Avoiding our psychology
sublimating our desires
curbing our impulses

“Moralistic” animals
Live, sleep, feel, act
Without the labyrinthine intellect
the tangled threads of suffering.
In the here and now

They have little call for nostalgic recollection
But to live life anew
Each morning is cause for celebration
Each breath a blessing

Only we have fallen
Requiring crutches to walk in this world

Now she says, “we shouldn’t feed
moralistic poets!”

Never fear, we cannot earn our bread.

* From The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/2011/07/poetry-potluck-week-43-life-in-free.html