This one is called "Shadowless Shadow," yeah, for a dog lover
out there.
"The Great Matriarch says, There's
a dog who barks at his own shadow, which is not there
for in midday sun there is no shadow.
Notice, if I give him a dumpling or a chew toy,
he stops barking, but he does not
stop when he sees his shadowless shadow.
He barks with warning, with alarm.
He barks louder and louder snapping his jaws,
swallowing sputum on his haunches, ready to pounce.
He's afraid of what is not there,
like you, Mei Ling, when you wake up
gasping for breath thinking you might die,
that ICE agents will come with a choke chain.
Poor dear, he wants to protect us
from the unseen, the unexpected, the unknowable.
This is very bad luck in the neighborhood to constantly fear
the harbinger of doom.
Should we then euthanize him put him out of his misery?
To prophesize destruction is to invite bad omens,
to stare into the abyss.
Or shall we calm him, caress him, give him shelter?
Let's call him by his birth name and take away his power.
Let's shout, Hashtag, No Collusion, Gunboat,
Death Star, Apocalypse, Mara, Diabolus, Beelzebub.
Let's call him, The one who understands vacuity.
Let's not fear him but love him, offer the pink leash for he
is your dog and he is mine."
So.
When my students said, That's rather a cheesy ending.
He should bite, and be nasty, and ferocious, right?
Don't offer the pink leash.
[LAUGHS]
Nothing funny about offering a pink leash,
don't you think that's funny?
[LAUGHTER]
Oh, wait.
OK.
It's kind of ridiculous.
OK.