A POEM FOR A SUNDAY
THE VICTOR DOG by James Merrill
THE VICTOR DOG *
for Elizabeth Bishop
Bix to Buxtehude to Boulez.
The little white dog on the Victor label
Listens long and hard as he is able.
It’s all in a day’s work, whatever plays.
#
From judgment, it would seem, he has refrained.
He even listens earnestly to Bloch,
Then builds a church upon our acid rock.
He’s man’s—no—he’s the Leierma…