Dog House

Dog House

i'm not as cynical or edgy
as some
when it comes to politics
cause sometimes i imagine
it's better
to be the dog
in a large fenced yard
fed 2 cans of alpo a day
than a dog
on a short chain
locked to its shack
surrounded
by its shit and flies
and rarely
if ever
fed or watered

i suppose
it's better
to be a free man
than a dog
on a chain
or a dog
locked inside a fence
but the idea
that most men
including me
are better
than most dogs
is probably
wishful thinking
especially when 
you can drive around 
anytime
for french fries
and a draft beer
in the right place
at the right time
is only 75 cents

like the rest
i'm no constrained noble savage
rather
i'm soft and lazy
preferring the ease
of the supermarket
to the inconvenience
of hunting down 
a hare or a quail
with a stick
or a sling
and a rock

as such
if you gotta pick your poison
i'll take the sloppy food from the can
and a little bit of space
to the starvation
and the shit
and the flies
of the dog
on a short chain
locked
to its house

and
in knowing i'm dumb
and often wrong
i'll still give some thought
to which master
seems a little more likely
to keep us both
fed
and watered

i'll give it some thought
which master
might be the better one
the one allowing me
release from his chain
with food and water enough
to keep messing with
these critical 
edgy words
mostly
as i please
even when
they're sometimes written
about him
while i'm running around
inside
his own
fence