Black Dog Escapism
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.
He's a getaway vehicle
tethered at the curb
loaded
chambered
on someone else's word
sidelined spectator
a non-participant
to the greatest heist in history
watching them be wolves
and run circles round the herd until
they tire of the sport
and break away
and set sights on somewhere new
anywhere
away from here.
The where
the how
is the Black Dog's problem now
all they know
is he's not going fast enough.
The Black Dog, chafed from the ride,
dreams of sitting his backside down in the dirt
of rolling
rubbing grass stains on their clean escape
kicking the itch until it's dislodged.
But they hold up a magnet
to his moral compass
leaving him at the helm
of someone else's life.