Let's Roar, Your Honor



To scream with pain, to cry, to summon help, to call

generally—all that is described here as "roaring."

In Siberia not only bears roar, but sparrows and mice as well.

"The cat got it, and it's roaring," they say of a mouse.



- from "Across Siberia,"

by Anton Chekhov.



"Let's Roar, Your Honor" from All Of Us: The Collected Poems The Harvill Press, 1996. Copyright © 1996 by Tess Gallagher.

Found poetry in "Across Siberia" by Anton Chekhov from The Unknown Chekhov, translated by Avrahm Yarmolinksy, Farrar, Straus And Giroux, 1954. Copyright © 1982 by Babette Devtsch Yarmolinsky.



Your Dog Dies



it gets run over by a van.

you find it at the side of the road

and bury it.

you feel bad about it.

you feel bad personally,

but you feel bad for your daughter

because it was her pet,

and she loved it so.

she used to croon to it

and let it sleep in her bed.

you write a poem about it.

you call it a poem for your daughter,

about the dog getting run over by a van

and how you looked after it,

took it out into the woods

and buried it deep, deep,

and that poem turns out so good

you're almost glad the little dog

was run over, or else you'd never

have written that good poem.

then you sit down to write

a poem about writing a poem

about the death of that dog,

but while you're writing you

hear a woman scream

your name, your first name,

both syllables,

and your heart stops.

after a minute, you continue writing.

she screams again.

you wonder how long this can go on.



"Your Dog Dies" from All Of Us: The Collected Poems The Harvill Press, 1996. Copyright © 1996 by Tess Gallagher.