My dog has only one eye,
well actually two eyes sit there
on his forehead but only one works
since his stroke, the bad eye
like a useless copper penny at the bottom of a well,
the good eye the color of a dirty martini,
and I didn't even know dogs had strokes
until he couldn't walk,
though that part lasted only a short while,
a few minutes to be exact,
but afterwards his head became cocked
permanently to one side,
one ear sticking straight up in the air,
a salute to something or other,
or an antenna,
looking for all the world like the RCA-Victor dog,
listening to the Victrola horn speaker,
the image called His Master's Voice,
that iconic advertisement everyone has seen,
but that's just an image
not a real permanent thing like my dog has—
as now he's always listening
for some kind of far-off music
that's a little too low for him to catch
and isn't that really
how all of us go through life—
listening hard for far-off sounds—
like high-pitched whistles only a dog hears,
sounds that hopefully
will tell us what we're
supposed to do?