First Thing

The first thing I can remember at all was
a dead dog at the bottom of my pram.
      —Graham Greene, Journey without Maps

A dead dog at the bottom of my pram
Seems to be my earliest memory,
Unless I am part of an implant program
To stock Earth with mock-human irony—

In which case I must have been abducted
By ETs and beamed up into the sky
Where I was undone then reconstructed
Out of bytes and obits from the diary

Of Graham Green: that gruesome deceased dog
I mean: before Mother or the Mothership
Popped that pug in my pram my time was mine

Alone, unknown, a page torn from the log—
Until that moment died I had no script
No guide: no word undeified my sign.

Copyright © 2003 Bill Knott All rights reserved
from West Branch
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission