{"sf1_id":2259962,"sf2_id":"RnoozX6n","title":"The Black Dog Swallows the Light","author":"Dakaar","words":148,"posted_at":"2025-06-11T07:54:15.000Z","tags":["Poetry"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2259962-the-black-dog-swallows-the-light","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/RnoozX6n","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/e2/c7/e2c7ee2e-8780-4e8c-86a4-252f1c6127fe","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":"You’d think he’d thrash around more,\n\n \n\nred-mawed,\n\n \n\nwild-eyed\n\n \n\nand thirsting.\n\n \n\nInstead his body makes a meek spiral,\n\n \n\nand he lets it stay a malign sizzling in his chest,\n\n \n\nfor fear\n\n \n\nthat if the gate of teeth should breach\n\n \n\nit would only feed\n\n \n\non air\n\n \n\non flesh\n\n \n\nand come more alive,\n\n \n\nthat the furnace might sire things more sharp\n\n \n\nthan jaws,\n\n \n\nhungrier than the charred hollow of his guts.\n\n \n\nIf he screams he knows\n\n \n\nhe would scream fire\n\n \n\nso he gulps oceans just to feel them seethe\n\n \n\nand scalds himself\n\n \n\nsooner salt-sick than ignite into calamity.\n\n \n\nHe doesn’t know anymore\n\n \n\nwhat will succumb first.\n\n \n\nWill he crumble, ashen faced\n\n \n\nand let the wind carry him,\n\n \n\nor will it shine incandescent between his scorched ribs,\n\n \n\nand flow from his mouth to meet the sea\n\n \n\nand leave himself standing in his upheaval\n\n \n\nan uninhabited new land\n\n \n\nstill hot to the touch?","series":{"name":"Black Dog","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2257727-black-dog-kintsugi.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2263941-black-dog-becoming.json"}}