Well, This Is a Stretch / Extended Metaphor - Poetry Blog Number 2 (Pink Dog)

So I definitely used the word "also" much more than necessary on my last blog. I will work on that for this one. Also, I would like to point out that my analysis for this poem is a little wild and probably wrong. But here we go. 

I think that the poem Pink Dog by Elizabeth Bishop is actually not even about a dog. It is an extended metaphor for a homeless woman trying to survive. The woman has just had a baby, or may have multiple children, and she is trying to provide for them. ("In what slum have you hidden them, poor bitch, while you go begging, living by your wits?")  She's probably a prostitute ("Startled, the passersby draw back and stare" - not because she's naked, but because they know what she is; when the poem says "naked" it means that she is exposed, not unclothed). The poem says "In your condition you would not be able even to float, much less to dog-paddle. Now look, the practical, the sensible solution is to wear a fantasia. Tonight you simply can't afford to be an eyesore," and this represents society's negative attitude toward her conditions - they want her to hide her poverty during their celebration. If she's trying to beg on the street to get more money, her lack of funds and bad clothing will drive people who are focused on wealth and partying away instead of evoking sympathy; she won't survive through the festival/season.