Howling at Osito
Dawn Sperber
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When I howl like a wolf, Osito sits before me like an attentive philosophy student. I think I gain a lot of clout in his eyes. He barks back, then rounds out his vowels like mine, and he gets so excited when he gets it right. Maybe he thinks we’ll finally be able to run off and be dogs together at last, if we share a language — or at least I’ll stop interrupting with a “No barking” while he’s getting the hot goss from down the street. When I finally stop howling, Osito stays close, watching me with his ears perked up, ready for more of my sudden bilingual wisdom. Right then, the possibilities for our future adventures multiply around us. He keeps waiting, with one foreleg shivering, and his dark eyes shine, like there’s just so much he’s ready to say.
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Dedication
To Osito, my ready accomplice, prince, and funnyman.
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Dawn Sperber is the author of My Bones Are Love Gifts (Shanti Arts, 2022), an illustrated poetry collection, and Now, That’s a Trick (Finishing Line Press, 2022), a flash fiction chapbook. She is a writer, editor, and artist based in Texas and New Mexico. Her stories have been published in PANK, NANO Fiction, Daily Science Fiction, Hunger Mountain, and elsewhere. You can find her flash essay, “Home Is a Shape-Shifter,” in the current issue of Creation Magazine. (Check it out.) She helps with Plume: A Writer’s Community and the Plume podcast, supporting women and non-binary writers.
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Posted in Boudin April '24 Pet and tagged in #boudin