Golden Retrievals

👉 Read the full poem "Golden Retrievals" by Mark Doty on the Poetry Foundation

Have you ever noticed how easily our human minds wander into yesterday’s regrets or tomorrow’s worries, while our dogs are living completely, joyfully right now?
In his brilliant sonnet "Golden Retrievals," poet Mark Doty captures the inner monologue of a golden retriever whose daily walk becomes a hilarious and profound lesson in mindfulness. While the human walking on the other end of the leash is lost in a haze of past and future, the dog sees ki’s ultimate purpose not just as fetching sticks, but retrieving us—anchoring us back into the vivid reality of the present.

Excerpt

“My work:
to unsnare time’s warp (and woof!), retrieving,
my haze-headed friend, you.”