He stands in the empty arch to his human home
“We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost-effective." — Kurt Vonnegut
And howls at the doorway,
Flames still licking at the burnt-out jamb.
At sundown he ceases to protest his abandonment.
Head bowed low from fatigue,
Fur singed, paws sore from jagged terrain,
He turns his heavy head toward the smoke-hazed ocean
In time to watch a sperm whale breach,
An ecstatic leap captured in midair,
Frozen against the radiant wafer of a setting sun.
Life! Energetic, graceful, glistening from across the infinity of decimated dwellings, desiccated ash, and the tranquil Pacific.
The old dog settles in his curling canine fashion beneath the once-majestic arch.
And waits.
Morning brings burnt red sunlight,
Smoke, smelling acrid, wet, unnatural,
A man, smelling of carbon, sweat, unnatural,
Words spoken with unfamiliar tone.
Too weary to move,
The old dog allows the man to scoop him into canvas-clad arms
And carry him to water and soothing hands.
He recognizes love and waits for his humans,
his own humans,
To return home.
# # #
Charles DegelmanWriter, editor, and educator based in Los Angeles. He's also played a lot of music. Degelman teaches writing at California State University, Los Angeles.
Degelman lives in the hills of Hollywood with his companion on the road of life, four cats, assorted dogs, and a coterie of communard brothers and sisters.
Chas, no dry eyes here. Stay safe!
All this came to me in a recent moment, lying in bed. These fires saturate to the bone, images hang in the mind, the go bags in the hall gather a fine dusting of ash. This poem came out of impressions that don’t disappear when the media moves on to the next conflagration. We’re burning up down here, and one never knows where the next battle will begin or what — and whom — it will consume.
Oh Charlie, what a sad and beautiful poem! I am not a dog person, but you have described this dog’s emotions so well that I am right there with him. Thank you!
Woof! I’m glad I reached you with this impression. I wrote it in bed, after waking with an image I had seen the night before, a photo of a dog howling at one of so many burning buildings. The dog seemed to be castigating his/her humans for not being present. It all seemed so human.
For me, as for many, nothing can express the toll taken by fear, loss and suffering quite like seeing it through the eyes of a dog.
Yeah, Dave. I have witnessed so much of human’s inhumanity to humans that I tend to feel more compassion and empathy to animals who, in most species, can express love and concern for others so much better than humans. So I tried, at least superficially, to climb inside a dog.
Agree this is a very moving poem. By extension, I find the extinctions in progress affecting not just humans, but the rest of flora and fauna, kind of overwhelming. I find myself apologizing to the rest of the world on a regular basis. Best wishes to you and all of LA—it’s not over I know.
Thanks, Khati. I am frequently able to muster deeper compassion for our creatures than for our willfully perpetrating selves. We have done this to ourselves. Most animals know nothing but unconditional love.