{"sf1_id":2263941,"sf2_id":"eRbRbYMe","title":"Black Dog Becoming","author":"Dakaar","words":147,"posted_at":"2025-06-24T15:41:07.000Z","tags":["Poetry"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2263941-black-dog-becoming","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/eRbRbYMe","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/23/27/2327ca06-dc9a-4f9a-b523-05657b5c89d9","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":"He’s a timelapse\u0026nbsp;\n\n \n\nimmobile\n\n \n\na guardian statue\n\n \n\nenthroned in his own skull\n\n \n\nwaiting for the flickering world\n\n \n\nto overgrow him.\n\n \n\nThey told him he had to walk on\n\n \n\ncome to heel\n\n \n\nor he’d be left behind,\n\n \n\nbut here in a temple of bones\n\n \n\nthe osteomantic remnants\n\n \n\nof every Dog that walked ahead of him\n\n \n\nhe’s never felt more welcome.\n\n \n\nHe feels them underfoot\n\n \n\nthe upcycled dead\n\n \n\na transcendent creep\n\n \n\na wired neuropathy\n\n \n\na revolving door\n\n \n\nto push.\n\n \n\nHe shrugs off his pelt\n\n \n\nand sloughs away flesh\n\n \n\nand lets the moss crawl in\n\n \n\nto soothe his bare bones.\n\n \n\nHe will wait here, and let the hollows of his eyes spill over\n\n \n\nexhale his held breath\n\n \n\nhis mouthful of dust\n\n \n\nand let the veil tear.\n\n \n\nHe doesn’t know if it’s possible\n\n \n\nto kill with meaning\n\n \n\nbut he knows with a certainty\n\n \n\ndecay exists\n\n \n\nas an extant form\n\n \n\nof life.","series":{"name":"Black Dog","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2259962-the-black-dog-swallows-the-light.json"}}