billy collins: Another Reason I Don't Keep a Gun in the House
Posted on Nov 26th, 2006
by 
jhalifax
jhalifax
meditation: roll everything into your practice. that's the point. not to avoid anything, but rather to practice radical inclusivity. billy collin's poem made me laugh. first talk of rohatsu sesshin will commence with this collin's koan:
Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House
The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
that he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out.
The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,
barking, barking, barking,
and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog.
When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton
while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.
Billy Collins
so what's your barking dog?
Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House
The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
that he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out.
The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,
barking, barking, barking,
and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog.
When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton
while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.
Billy Collins
so what's your barking dog?
Access: PublicTagged with: billy collins, upaya zen center, sesshin, meditation, dog, beethoven, rohatsu, inclusivity
beethoven
July 2008
Thank you so much for sharing this poem in your blog. I'd never thought of Billy Collins as a Zen poet until now. Your post script makes it a really good koan. Before I'd thought the poem was about paradigm shift.
roll all into the practice……