A Dog in Hanoi

Ngoc Ha neighborhood, Hanoi, 2001

Maybe Ngoc Ha is nothing
but a vivid dream and here
I am nothing but an animal
who does not understand

the higher order of things.
Maybe the traffic is only
a tumbling hallucination
and I am nothing but one of

these charming, silent dogs
who watch and listen with
detachment-the way
I listen to the language of

my fellow creatures. Maybe
only quiet dogs survived
the war. They walk along
the curb but seldom speak.

Copyright © 2009 Joseph Duemer All rights reserved
from Beloit Poetry Journal
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission