Ernst Stöhr , Illustration from 'Ver Sacrum', 1899

Elisabeth Frink , Bound, 1950

John Virtue , Painting no. 14,

Léon De Smet , Despair, 1903

Dog by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The dog trots freely in the street
and sees reality
and the things he sees
are bigger than himself
and the things he sees
are his reality
Drunks in doorways
Moons on trees
The dog trots freely thru the street
and the things he sees
are smaller than himself
Fish on newsprint
Ants in holes
Chickens in Chinatown windows
their heads a block away
The dog trots freely in the street
and the things he smells
smell something like himself
The dog trots freely in the street
past puddles and babies
cats and cigars
poolrooms and policemen
He doesn’t hate cops
He merely has no use for them
and he goes past them
and past the dead cows hung up whole
in front of the San Francisco Meat Market
He would rather eat a tender cow
than a tough policeman
though either might do
And he goes past the Romeo Ravioli Factory
and past Coit’s Tower
and past Congressman Doyle
He’s afraid of Coit’s Tower
but he’s not afraid of Congressman Doyle
although what he hears is very discouraging
very depressing
very absurd
to a sad young dog like himself
to a serious dog like himself
But he has his own free world to live in
His own fleas to eat
He will not be muzzled
Congressman Doyle is just another
fire hydrant
to him
The dog trots freely in the street
and has his own dog’s life to live
and to think about
and to reflect upon
touching and tasting and testing everything
investigating everything
without benefit of perjury
a real realist
with a real tale to tell
and a real tail to tell it with
a real live
              barking
                         democratic dog
engaged in real
                      free enterprise
with something to say
                             about ontology
something to say
                        about reality
                                        and how to see it
                                                  and how to hear it
with his head cocked sideways
                                       at streetcorners
as if he is just about to have
                                       his picture taken
                                                   for Victor Records
                                  listening for
                                                   His Master’s Voice
                      and looking
                                       like a living questionmark
                                               into the
                                                   great gramaphone
                                                   of puzzling existence
                 with its wondrous hollow horn
                         which always seems
                     just about to spout forth
                                       some Victorious answer
                                       to everything

Margaret Bourke-White , Steps, Washington D.C, 1934

Claude Monet , A Seascape, Shipping by Moonlight , 1864

Victor Hugo, The Lighthouse, 1866

Anton Corbijn, Joy Division at Lancaster Subway Station in London, 1979

Tom Thomson, Evening Cloud, 1915

Georg Emil Libert, Nocturnal clouds over a rocky coast, 1873

Torii Kotondo, Make-up, 1929

Joseph Wright of Derby, A lighthouse on fire at night, 1770

Käthe Kollwitz, Woman with dead child, 1903

Michael Wutky, Éruption du Vésuve, 1779

James Brown, Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag / I Feel Good

Roberto Matta, My Blind, 1946-1947

Óscar Domínguez, Cosmic Landscape, 1938-1939

Victor Brauner, Consciousness of Shock, 1951

Happy Bukowski Day