Another reason why I don't keep a gun in the house

I’ve been given a book of poetry by Billy Collins, the American Poet Laureate for 2001 - 2003. It’s called Sailing Alone around the Room. The title is quite revealing. Collins is light, funny, unemotional unreligious. His themes are not "profound" but take little things and play with them for deeper meanings. It was a nice gift.

For copy reasons, I cannot bring a whole poem, just a part.

The neighbor’s dog will not stop barking.
he is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
that he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out.
(…)

I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,
barking, barking, barking,

and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog.

When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
(…)

while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.