I have thought a lot about why dogs bark
why dogs barked in my neighborhood growing up
setting off a firecracker chain reaction of barks
why our dog barked at home but never inside.
except for the one time a cow was trotting down our
suburban street and she saw it from the living room window
and went into the crazy bark. once in summer my sister and I
saw her barking at her own curly shadow on the sidewalk.
whenever I read a magazine article on why dogs bark
it makes me laugh.
you don't get it I think
and I wonder if maybe I am part dog that I know this
but I do know this.
first of all, dogs in the backyard bark to communicate with other dogs
in the neighborhood. Whoever's outside at the same time.
it's saying: hey, something important happened today.
I'm going to tell you about it.
owners always think the dog is barking at an intruder
or just wanting attention.
well, sometimes.
but my dog used to bark in autumn every time a leaf fell down.
and then I know she was barking to tell the rest of the dogs
that her barking shook the leaves off the tree
as in: I am a powerful and clever little dog.
isn't it great? I may be majik.
and other dogs would bark back.yur not majik.
that's nothing. today I made the grass grow
just by staring at it.
or, I made the postman go through the hedges;
he split his pants (dog laughing bark)(other dogs,
laughing bark back)
but the cake topper was the dog that barked
hey, I made the sun come down.
barking and barking, wagging their tails
making sense of the dog world
and sometimes there was the dog
the last one out who thought if it just barked hard enough
the moon would fall down
into the back yard.
and it would all be on the front page of the newspaper
forever. or they would give him some chocolate ice cream finally.
and not just the fried chicken crumbs that fell off under the table.
mary angela douglas 16 may 2023
