A Poem and After 70 Years a Reply

Lying

Knock, knock, knock,
please open the door
let me stay the night
       It's late and it's cold
       Who can it be?
I opened the door
and saw the tail of a black dog
lying.

Cluck, cluck,
laid an egg
Here girl come and get it.
       The girl ran to see
       the egg oh the egg
it was only an insolent hen
caught in broad daylight
lying.

       --- Yun Dongju, 1937

Lying

Canine, chicken
live next door
in annual menageries,
       Dog on tiger: okay.
       Hen and tiger too.
Why not rat on rat?
Manual for interpecies mating
lying.

Doak-doak, Doak-doak
five zodiac-dozen cycles
makes us a sage.
      The man and his tele-V
       grew gray waiting,
got wise and up after 60 years.
All calendar’s fault
lying.

       --Duane Vorhees, 2007