white with foam » John Ciardi http://www.brucedene.potlikker.com/blog The penultimate last word Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:01:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 The Sorrow of Obedience http://www.brucedene.potlikker.com/blog/blog/the-sorrow-of-obedience/ http://www.brucedene.potlikker.com/blog/blog/the-sorrow-of-obedience/#comments Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:35:51 +0000 Bruce http://www.brucedene.potlikker.com/blog/?p=182 The lieutenant ordered me to ask Abdhul
if he would sell one of the speckled puppies
his mongrel bitch was mothering.

As I waited for Abdhul to finish cleaning his rifle
— he is known to be testy — I reviewed the difference
between “puppy/son of a dog” and “bitch/mother.”

Obedience, as even generals must understand,
is no substitute for idiom. I translated,
praying to get it right once. When, however,

Abdhul first shot the lieutenant, then slit his throat,
then lopped his sex and threw the mess to the mongrel,
I was once more left to grieve for my imperfections.

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