"Pink Dog"

This poem compares a dog to the poor people in Rio de Janeiro. There is a dog that has not fur because of scabies. It has babies and it is starving. The poem states, "It's been in all the papers, to solve this problem, how they deal with beggars? They take and throw them in the tidal rivers." The society does nothing to help the poor. The way of dealing with them is getting rid of them. The poem also states, "Yes, idiots, paralytics, parasites go bobbing in the ebbing sewage, nights out in the suburbs, where there are no lights." This tells the reader not only are poor people thrown into rivers, mentally handicapped people and paralytics are too. People who cannot provide for themselves are outcasts. Society allows this to go on. "Where there are no lights" means that everyone may know what is happening, but no one says anything.