“Your Dog Dies” — Raymond Carver

Posted on by Biblioklept

“Your Dog Dies” by Raymond Carver–

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.


Published by Biblioklept

7 thoughts on ““Your Dog Dies” — Raymond Carver”

  5. […] “je noemt het een gedicht voor je dochter, over de hond die overreden raakt door een bestelwagen en hoe je je erover ontfermde, het meenam naar de bossen en het diep, diep begroef, en dat gedicht bleek zo goed dat je bijna blij was dat de kleine hond overreden was, want anders had je nooit dat goede gedicht geschreven.” (eigen vertaling van) “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.” (Raymond Carver, Your dog dies, zie ook hier) […]

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