- Dr.Pragya Suman
Richard Shelton: Poet of Desert and Prisoners
American poet Richard Shelton died recently on 29 November 2022. A poet of the desert, Shelton spent most of his life in the desert of Arizona. In his debut book, The Tattooed Desert, Richard explores the desert and moves backwardly, but the landscape always remains the same. The spiritual desert of his century underlined his writings, and he seeked solace among prison inmates. Richard started a poetry workshop for socially outcast people, and strangely he seemed to have many artistic flairs among criminals. Walking Rain Review was a literary journal Richard began and edited for prison inmates.
I like his poem “If I Were a Dog
“If I Were a Dog” by Richard Shelton
I would trot down this road sniffing
on one side and then the other
peeing a little here and there
wherever I felt the urge
having a good time what the hell
saving some because it’s a long road
but since I’m not a dog
I walk straight down the road
trying to get home before dark
if I were a dog and I had a master
who beat me I would run away
and go hungry and sniff around
until I found a master who loved me
I could tell by his smell and I
would lick his face so he knew
or maybe it would be a woman
I would protect her we could go
everywhere together even down this
dark road and I wouldn’t run from side
to side sniffing I would always
be protecting her and I would stop
to pee only once in awhile
sometimes in the afternoon we could
go to the park and she would throw
a stick I would bring it back to her
each time I put the stick at her feet
I would say this is my heart
and she would say I will make it fly
but you must bring it back to me
I would always bring it back to her
and to no other if I were a dog
“If I Were a Dog” by Richard Shelton, from The Last Person to Hear Your Voice. © University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007.
https://www.biblio.com/book/richard-shelton-selected-poems-1969-1981/d/1405243568
