“Le Chien,” a Poem by Billy Collins

“Le Chien,” a Poem by Billy Collins

I remember late one night in Paris speaking at length to a dog in English about the future of American culture. No wonder she kept cocking her head as I went on about “summer movies” and the intolerable poetry of my compatriots. I was standing and she was sitting on a dim street in front of a butcher shop, and come to think of it, she could have been waiting for the early morning return of the lambs and the bleeding sides of beef to their hooks …