This poem has repetition with the word barking and personification because a dog could not be in Beethoven's Orchestra. this poem does not have a rhyme scheme it is free verse.
to me this poem means he has lots of reasons he does not have a gun in the house and the next door neighbors dog is one of them because he does not stop barking when there owners leave and he cannot put up with it.










Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House




The neighbors' 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.

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
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,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton

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.