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      February 9, 2019Dog Descending a StaircaseHeather Abner

      After his bath and haircut
      at the groomer each month,
      Deez sports a kerchief
      that would look good
      at MOMA.
      Today it’s a triangle of Mondrian’s
      Broadway Boogie Woogie
      tied around his collar,
      but he shimmies his way out of it
      on the drive home.
      He’s a modern art dog
      sliding down the staircase
      like Duchamp’s nude,
      always in motion,
      pure gesture.
      If I were to paint his portrait
      as he whirls around the backyard,
      it would look like a Pollock.
      I sometimes want to do to him
      what Duchamp finally did
      with ordinary objects
      like the bicycle wheel.
      Sign my name to him
      and call it art.

      from #26 - Winter 2006

      Heather Abner

      “My grandfather, Matthew Leon Stevens (b. 1918) was part of the Greatest Generation. Although he didn’t write poetry, he delighted a young Heather with his harmonica rendition of ‘Mack the Knife.’ As a test driver for GM in the ’50s and ’60s, Matt Stevens pressed his foot to the gas pedal pulse of America. I continue that lead foot tradition. I composed this poem about my dog Diesel while driving my Chevy to work.”

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