{"sf1_id":2243804,"sf2_id":"rnaQJRBn","title":"The Black Dog Takes a Walk","author":"Dakaar","words":195,"posted_at":"2025-04-15T14:50:25.000Z","tags":["Poetry"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2243804-the-black-dog-takes-a-walk","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/rnaQJRBn","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/0d/3c/0d3ce435-2ac7-4d42-b627-833853b29896","description":"Freeform poetry from the introspective collection, Black Dog, that runs with a folkloric figure that is often associated with misfortune and used as a metaphor for depression. Black Dog looks at this figure and gives him a voice, letting him bark back at a society that’s already made up its mind about him.","content":"In their sticky orange glow,\n\n \n\ncoddled by a glare that doesn’t pretend\n\n \n\nto fend the monsters off anymore,\n\n \n\nthe Black Dog struggles\n\n \n\nto even stretch his legs, to open his jaws,\n\n \n\nin streets that would just as soon\n\n \n\nnarrow the mind as the heart.\n\n \n\nHe’s sick of ruined night-vision\n\n \n\nof star-strangled evenings littered with sky-trash\n\n \n\nand the tinnitus whine of everyone else\n\n \n\ngoing nowhere else\n\n \n\nfast,\n\n \n\nof crossroads where every devil worth a damn\n\n \n\nwill try to sell you a neon need\n\n \n\nyou never knew you wanted.\n\n \n\nAn intersection\n\n \n\none way or another\n\n \n\njust means something’s going to\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\npass you by.\n\n \n\nWith every lap around the block he is starving\n\n \n\nto pack it all in\n\n \n\nand trade streetlights\n\n \n\nfor tree trunks.\n\n \n\nSomewhere there is a place he knows\n\n \n\nwhere their arms can stretch skyward\n\n \n\nand link fingers with a night dripping with stars,\n\n \n\nwhere the animal dark\n\n \n\nso complete it flows, and runs\n\n \n\nblacker than blood\n\n \n\ndark as a dog\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nat the edge of your glow,\n\n \n\nruns pad-footed along a road\n\n \n\nthat’s all downhill from here\n\n \n\nto pool outside a cabin door\n\n \n\nwhere his nearest neighbour\n\n \n\nis a quiet nobody felt the need to clutter.","series":{"name":"Black Dog","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2243803-the-black-dog-chases-foxes.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2246199-black-dog-fishing.json"}}