"Pink Dog" by: Elizabeth Bishop

This poem was confusing to me, but so far, I have my own thoughts of what it could possibly be about. I believe that the ill treated dog is symbolic of poor and homeless people around the time of Mardi Gras. Stanza 3 talks about people being afraid of the rabies that a stray dog may have and this is symbolic of people being afraid of the homelessness because of their sickly look. People avoid the dog/poor instead of helping them like they actually should. When the time for the carnival/ Mardi Gras comes along, the people of the city will either throw out the poor and needy or they will dress them up and hide them during the carnival. The last stanza says that the carnival is always wonderful. This seems to me to be from the point of a wealthy person who does not care about the trials of the poor and homeless. In the end, the speaker gives the "pink dog" a warning that they better dress up, or they will just be thrown out.